Harry Potter and the Sith Conspiracy
by Jed Rhodes
Summary: Harry Potter is taken for training by the Jedi order aged one. He returns to Hogwarts at eleven to gain magical experience - but life isn't easy when Dark Jedi are after you and your friends... Star Wars Crossover.
1. Beginnings

The child was lying in front of the house, exactly where his Master had told him he was. He was sleeping as soundly as – well, as a baby, the Knight smiled.

"I am here," said the knight into his communication device. "The child is exactly where you said he would be."

"Good, good," came the reply. "Take the boy, you must, and to our universe bring him back, and quick you must be – agents of darkness there are on that world."

"Master," said the knight, "why do we not simply leave the boy here? He'll be fine with his family."

"A task, he must perform, when older he is, and his training was requested by a friend," came the reply. "Now hurry you must!"

The knight clicked the communicator off, and quickly picked the boy up.

He knew that the child would need to return. But Qui Gon Jinn wasn't worried about that.

"The boys disappeared, Dumbledore!" Minerva McGonagall said, flustered beyond belief. "Just… gone!"

Dumbledore had to suppress a smile. It wouldn't do to be grinning at a time like this. He calmed his emotins exactly as he had been trained to, and relaxed himself.

It had happened. He knew he could rely on his old friend to come through for him. He always could.

"Minerva, please relax," he said. "I had Harry transferred somewhere discreetly – purely until he begins Hogwarts."

"But… but what about -?"

"The dropping off of Harry at the Dursleys was a complicated Ruse," Dumbledore continued. "Don't worry, Minerva, everything is under control."

Back on the planet Coruscant, Mace Windu placed his hand on the baby's temple.

"He does have potential," Mace admitted, "strong potential, but it's dangerous having him here. The portal is - "

"Strong as ever, the portal is," said Yoda. "Owe Dumbledore much, I do, and he requested that we train the boy if possible it is to do so. Is it?"

Mace nodded slowly. He didn't like this.

"He is strong with the Force," he said at last. "Qui Gon should be quite the adequate teacher."

"More than adequate, I think," replied Yoda, grinning.

Mace smiled too. Yoda was right, Qui Gon would be an excellent teacher for this boy.

"Good luck, Harry Potter," he said, before calling for Qui Gon to come collect him.

--


	2. Hogwarts

II

**Ten years later...**

He had been hailed as one of the greatest Jedi who lived, wise, noble, calm, yet with a curiosity and a drive that made him a force to be reckoned with. He and Qui Gon were considered the ultimate team (though they themselves would _never_ say that). They had done everything, dealt with every brand and variety of problem, from settle trade disputes to fighting mercenaries, and they had done so brilliantly.

Harry Potter had mastered the central code of the Jedi as soon as he was able to talk, and recited it now flawlessly.

_"There is no emotion; there is peace._

_There is no ignorance; there is knowledge._

_There is no passion; there is serenity._

_There is no death; there is the Force."_

And right now, between missions, he sat in his room, meditating.

He was four and a half feet tall, roughly, with long jet black hair tied into a ponytail. His eyes were emerald green, and his face wore an expression of utmost calm. He wore no glasses, the imperfection in his eyes having been repaired by surgery.

His mind was going back, back to a time when he was building his lightsabre...

_He sat in the cave, and placed the crystal he had found inside the shell of a sabre handle he had built. It looked like his Master's, as he had intended, and he activated the blade once the crystal was in place._

_It hummed, and Harry lost himself in that humming... it had a rhythmic quality to it that he loved._

_The blade was emerald green, like his eyes, and he gave it a practice spin, and then a few moves, and then deactivated it._

_He smiled._

_He reactivated it, and for a moment, he felt like one of the great Jedi heroes of old. He spun the sabre, twirled it, jump slashed using it, and shut it off again._

_His smile was even wider now._

He was still a long way off from being a full Jedi, he knew, but he was patient if anything. He could wait as long as he had to, and he was happy to wait.

He was still smiling when his Master came to his room.

"The Council wish to see you," said Qui Gon. "I think they have a mission for you."

"A mission?" asked Harry, surprised. "What sort of mission? Where are they sending us?"

"You, Harry," Qui Gon said. "Not us, you."

"You aren't coming?" Harry queried, surprised.

"I do not think so," answered Qui Gon. "The Council will explain everything, I'm sure. Go on now."

Harry was puzzled, but he trusted the Council implicitly, so he went.

Qui Gon stared after him, sad that he would probably never see his Padawan again.

--

"Harry Potter," came the voice of Mace Windu as Harry entered the Council chamber.

"Master's," said Harry, bowing respectfully.

"You know, presumably, that you come from a parallel universe?" asked Mace.

Harry did know this. Unlike many younger Jedi, he had been told everything about his origins, at Yoda's request. He needed to know, apparently - at least Yoda said he did, though he didn't see how it had much bearing on his life here.

"Yes Master," he replied.

"Then you know of the school Hogwarts?" continued Mace.

"Yes, Master," Harry confirmed. "The school my parents went to."

"Good," said Mace, smiling and nodding. "You'll be going there. You will return to your universe of origin, and learn magic at Hogwarts."

"Learn magic at Hog -?" Harry repeated, stunned. This was not quite what he had been expecting. "Master's forgive me, but I have not completed my Jedi training yet. Surely I must finish that first."

Mace Windu smiled at him. "You will not be going into your universe alone," he told the young Padawan. "Jedi Knight Jacen Araphis will accompany you, to finish your training."

"Why can't Master Qui Gon come?" asked Harry. He didn't want some man he had never met to finish his training, he wanted _his _Master. Surely that made more sense? Mace sighed.

"Qui Gon cannot come with you. He has too many duties to the Order and to the Republic, and is too important to the order to have us send him away at this critical time," said Mace. "But he selected Araphis himself, and wishes you to go."

Harry struggled with this for a while, but his Jedi sense of loyalty to the Masters overcame his shock, and he bowed.

"I will go, Masters," he said at last.

Yoda, who until this point had been silent, spoke.

"Your equipment is bought," he said. "A journey, you must make, to get to this 'Hogwarts'. Been to your world previously, Araphis has, so he will guide you."

Harry nodded slowly.

"Go," said Yoda after a moment. "Prepare for your journey."

Harry bowed, and left.

--

He decided against saying goodbye to his friends – even Castor and Kara. It would only heighten the emotion that he was feeling, and he didn't want to disappoint Master Qui Gon by breaking the code.

But to his surprise, Master Qui Gon was waiting for him.

"Harry," he said. "I… I wanted to say, goodbye and god luck."

"Thank you Master," Harry replied, his throat tight. "May the Force be with you."

"And with you, Padawan," Qui Gon replied.

Then, though neither of them could explain why or how, they were hugging, and neither of them stopped for a long, long time.

--

At the portal, Araphis waited. He was tall, lanky, and he had close cropped brown hair, a big nose and bigger ears. He had a suitcase with him, on wheels. He stood in his Jedi robes, and nodded to Harry as he came towards him.

"Harry Potter," he said in greeting. "It's good to see you. Here, take this."

He held out a stick to Harry. Harry looked at it for a full minute before looking back at Araphis.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

"A wand," Araphis explained. "It's what your people use to focus their Force abilities – or magic, as they term it."

"Magic is the same as the Force?" Harry said, slightly stunned.

"Sort of," Araphis said. "There are subtle differences, but essentially, yes."

Harry looked at the wand, and finally took it. It felt... right, in his hand.

"Where did you get it from?" he asked eventually.

"There is a shop called Ollivanders," Araphis replied. "The owner makes wands. I took your old training lightsabre as a key, and he used it to find a wand most suited to you."

Harry nodded, still staring at the wand in his hand. This thing felt more right in his hand then anything he'd ever seen…

"It's time to go, Harry," said Araphis after a moment. "We need to hurry, the portal will have to close in a moment."

The two of them stepped up to the portal, a white disk in space that could only be opened every so often, at great cost to the Jedi Masters, whose Force power kept it open. They would have to rest for a long time after this.

They stepped through...

Harry found himself in a crowded place, his new Master still by his side.

"Come," whispered Araphis.

He took Harry to a corner of this place. A red train stood in the corner, the words 'Hogwarts Express' written on the front.

"You must not reveal your true nature. There are many enemies of the Jedi here, and they would gladly kill a young Jedi. If anyone asks why you wear these robes," he pointed to the robes he and Harry both wore, "then say that you are part of a religious order. It will not be so far from the truth. Your uniform is in the case, put it on as soon as you get a free moment."

He looked around almost nervously, then continued.

"If you are threatened, you must defend yourself, but outside of that, do not draw attention to yourself. I will call to you when I wish you to train with me. Until then, Harry, may the Force be with you."

"And may the Force be with you, Master Araphis," Harry replied dutifully. Araphis smiled, and left, disappearing into the fog.

--

Harry boarded the train. The suitcase was taken by the conductor, leaving Harry with nothing but his sabre tucked into his belt, and his wand sitting next to it. Harry resolved that he would keep his sabre close to himself at all times.

He sat down in a compartment, and immediately went into a meditative state.

He could have been there seconds, minutes, or even hours (he could never tell), but he was woken up eventually by a boys voice.

"Is this compartment empty?" it said.

Harry opened his eyes. He found himself staring at a boy who looked rather like Castor did, except that his hair was a slightly less vibrant shade of orange.

"Yes," he said, politely. "Feel free to take a seat."

The boy sat heavily, and smiled his gratitude.

"Ron Weasley," he said, introducing himself.

"Harry Potter," replied Harry, shaking Ron's hand.

Ron's face suddenly registered an expression of shock and awe in equal measure.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really what?"

"Are you really Harry Potter?" asked Ron.

"Yes, I am," Harry replied.

"Wow," said Ron. "It's.. .it's an honour to meet you."

"The honour is all mine, Mr Weasley."

"Call me Ron."

At that point, a girl walked in. She was their age, with long bushy brown hair.

"Have you seen a toad?" she asked, her voice somewhat received and snooty.

"Nope," said Ron immediately. Harry could sense a slight dislike for the girl present in Ron's mind.

Harry reached into the Force. He knew what toads were, having researched them (and thousands of other Earth Fauna and Flora during his time at the temple) so finding one wasn't too hard if he tried. There was only one on the train anyway.

Within ten seconds, he answered "in the baggage carriage," but when he opened his eyes the others were staring at him.

"What was that?" asked Hermione.

"What?" he replied innocently.

"You just close your eyes," Hermione said, "and then you snap out of it and give an answer."

Harry thought about telling him straight, but his new Master had told him not to.

"I was trying to remember if I'd seen him," he lied, rather unconvincingly, "and I did, in the baggage carriage."

"We're not _allowed_ in the baggage carriage," the girl pointed out.

Harry looked at her, then cursed himself.

"I... went in there earlier," he improvised, widly but, at the same time, calmly, putting the weight of the Force behind it, "to check if my stuff was alright."

The two looked unconvinced, but thankfully, the Force was with him, the girl left it at that, and she exited the carriage.

Harry decided to tell Ron the truth as soon as he had a chance, but the girl was slightly arrogant, and rather rude, so he wouldn't bother telling her. Ron shrugged at him.

"Don't know what she's complaining about, you told her where the toad was, didn't you?" he said. Harry smiled, and nodded. Ron continued, "anyway, we're nearly there, so we'd better get dressed."

Harry resolved that he would not slip up again. Next time he used his Force abilitie,s he'd plan it first.

He sighed - this was going to be harder than he had first imagined.

--


	3. Sorting, and Learning

**III**

Harry waited in line. He had to admit, for a culture that hadn't even invented hyperdrive yet, these people were good at building impressive structures. Hogwarts was beautiful.

He was startled out of his reverie by someone tapping him on the shoulder. He turned to look at them, gaped for a moment, looked away, closed his eyes, and looked again.

He wasn't seeing things. It really was them.

Castorabusallio Voraainsar (known to all as Castor V), a five foot tall human with bright orange hair, and Kara Vincennes, a four foot tall girl with light blonde hair, his two best friends from back at the Jedi temple, were standing behind him, smiling, dressed in full Hogwarts uniform. Seeing them triggered a host of memories, including ne sparring session he would never forget...

--

_Harry spun, blocking his opponents swing, before unleashing an offensive of his own._

_Castor responded by leaping over Harrys head, bringing his training saber down in a viscious arc. __Harry doged, just barely, and swung his sword to meet Castors. __That's when Harry had a Force premonition, a glimpse of things to come. __He jumped back, dodging Kara's badly judged jump attack._

_He faced the two, then clicked his sabre off and bowed._

_They bowed back, their lightsabres clicking off._

_"That was fun," said Castor. "When can we do it again?_"

_"You like being beaten?" Harry asked._

_"No, but I won't let you win so easily, friend," Castor smiled back. "Again."_

_--_

Castor grinned at his still gaping expression.

"Surprised to see us?" he asked.

"I think the word 'gobsmacked' would be more accurate," replied Harry.

"Master Yoda sent us to keep you company," explained Kara. "He thought having friends around you would make it easier."

"Master Yoda sent you?" repeated Harry. "That doesn't sound like him."

"We did sort of insist," said Castor, with a sly smile.

"I don't want to know!" said Harry, turning back to the front, knowing full well that 'insistent' by Castor's standards was tantamount to harassment by anyone else's. He smiled, though. It was good to have his friends here. He turned back to the front, and studied the sorting ceremony. He saw a hat on a stool, which was being placed on a girls head. A stern looking woman was standing next to it. The hat suddenly yelled "RAVENCLAW!" and the girl scampered off to the table that was applauding her. Professor... McGonagall, yes, that was the stern womans name. He heard his own name being called out, and he went to the stool.

The hat started speaking to him.

"Ah, hello, a Jedi! Not had one of those in for a while... Skill, courage, honour, loyalty... These are all perfect for... GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry took the hat off, placed it on the stool, and, to some laughter, bowed to it. He walked over to the table, and waited for his friends, both old and new, to be sorted.

Hermione and Ron were Gryffindor, while Castor and Kara (Castor going under the alias Castor Troy) were also sorted into Gryffindor, after a moment where the hat (harry thought, grinning) would doubtless be saying something akin to the old proverb -"you wait all day for a transport to the upper levels, and then three come all at once." Harry introduced them as "friends from home", and when asked where that was, he simply said "somewhere remote - an island". Using the Force, he pushed the question of his home out of their minds. He decided that when he had to, he would definitely tell Ron about the Jedi. He hated decieving such a nice person about this.

--

That night, Harry slept soundly, resting himself more than any normal human could by reaching into the Force. He remembered Master Qui Gon's words.

_"The Force sustains life. By reaching into it, you can rest more fully, and sleep more soundly. The thing about the Force is that when one makes himself part of it, one can achieve anything."_

Harry hadn't had a single bad dream since he had mastered that skill. He silently thanked his master, and slept soundly.

The lessons at Hogwarts weren't exactly easy, but patience and hard work meant that he did well most times. Potions was bad, simply because the teacher seemed to hate Harry with a vengeance. But his training kept him from losing his head, and he did his best to do the work, without complaint, which the Potions Master couldn't exactly fault, if he wanted to maintain the (already somewhat flimsy) façade of impartiality.

Castor and Kara were equally calm, leading to the three being some of the best first year students in a long time, along with Hermione Granger.

What he didn't know was that his calm manner, and that of Castor and Kara, was being watched.

--

"Albus, he just seems... strange," Minerva McGonagall said to him. "He doesn't talk in class, he always turns up on time..."

Albus Dumbledore smiled, and was about to point out the obvious, when McGonagall continued.

"Don't get me wrong, Albus," she said. "I don't mind that he's so polite and calm and all the rest, but for a boy his age, don't you think it's just a tad unnatural?"

Dumbledore sighed heavily, knowing full well that this day would have come sooner or later.

"I know why Harry is like this," he said, "and I will endeavour to explain it to you. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

--

Harry, Castor and Kara stood outside. It was the first weekend, and they were dressed in their Jedi shirts, jerkins, trousers and boots.

"Right," said Castor, "the purpose of this game is to get as fast as possible to the edge of the forest, then to get to the dock, then back up to the stadium. You can take any route you want, as long as _no one sees you doing Jedi stuff_."

Harry and Kara nodded.

"Good," said Castor. "Now then, on your marks, get ready... GO!!"

They were off.

Castor sprinted ahead of them, his longer legs pounding the dirt, and he reached the edge of the forest quicker than the others. Harry came second, Kara third.

Next was the Dock. Kara used the Force to propel herself there over the ramparts, Harry used the Force to make his legs go faster, and Castor contented himself with just running.

Kara was already on her way to the stadium when Harry and Castor reached the dock, and she won the race. Harry came second, running as fast as he could, and Castor came up last, cursing when he got there.

Kara was smiling. While Harry and Castor were out of breath, she was breathing quite normally, leaning against a wall.

"Again?" she asked.

Castor groaned. Harry put his head in his hands.

--

The three Jedi Padawans walked off, joking with each other.

The twins who spied on them had to hold back the urge to puke at that. Jedi. Sickening creatures, especially the younger ones.

"I think, my brother, that we should kill them now," said the younger one (by four minutes).

"I think, my brother, that your patience seems to be wearing thin, as does your lack thereof. We wait, as instructed."

The younger one scowled at his older sibling.

"Do not worry, brother," said the older one. "We will destroy the young Jedi soon enough, but we must wait for the right opportunity."

The younger one nodded, and together they slinked off.

--

"Are you sure it was a good idea sending them?" asked Mace.

"No," admitted Yoda, "but insisted they did, and peace is one thing that enjoy I do. Besides, good it will be for Harry to have Jedi his own age with which to converse. Keep him on the path of the Jedi it will."

"Or send them all off it," muttered Mace under his breath. Yoda heard him, and nodded.

"A danger it is. Araphis, a good teacher is, however."

"True," said Mace.

"Any news of Master Jinn's mission?" asked Yoda.

"None. He and Master Kenobi have not contacted us at all," replied Mace.

"Have faith we must," said Yoda. "Fail, they will not."

And silently, the little green Master added, 'fail, they _must_ not'.

--


	4. Death

**IV**

It was Halloween, a time, apparently, of celebration. Harry didn't quite get the idea of celebrating Halloween, which seemed to revolve around celebreating being scared out of ones wits, but he was determined to join in anyway. He hadn't told Ron yet. He had been quite annoyed when, earlier that day, Ron had insulted Hermione openly. She had heard, but he had been unapologetic.

"That was unnecessary," Harry had said.

"Yeah well," said Ron, "she's a stuck up little bossy boots. She must have noticed she's got no friends."

Harry had decided to politely ignore Ron for a couple of days. Nothing major, but enough to let him know that Harry was annoyed. Hermione was still in the girls bathroom crying, apparently.

He was startled out of his thoughts by the defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell, running into the hall, yelling at the top of his voice.

"Troll! In the dungeon! Troll in the dungeon!!"

The entire hall stared at him for a full five seconds. And then he added: "Thought you ought to know," before he passed out.

Harry stayed sat down, as did Castor and Kara. They knew running like scared chickens, as the rest of the school was, would be futile and pointless. Dumbledore, to his credit, took control, and sent everyone off to their common rooms. Harry walked up to his Jedi friends, and they stayed at the rear of the line.

"We have to find Hermione," said Harry. "That troll could kill her with a flick of it's arm."

"You're quite right," said Castor. "Gotta get her out of the firing line."

Ron ran over to them, looking as worried as they were.

"D'you think we should go find Hermione?" he asked them, his concern evident in his voice.

"That's just what we were going to do," said Kara. "You're welcome to join us."

Ron nodded emphatically, and they set off, running as fast as Ron could.

--

When they finally got to the girls bathroom, they were in for a nasty surprise. The troll entered the bathroom just as they got there.

"Damn," said Castor. "Now we're going to have to fight that thing."

"Doesn't look so tough," said Harry thoughtfully, so Ron couldn't hear. "A quick jump slice with the sabre should do it."

"What about Ron and Hermione?" said Kara. "We can't reveal our nature to them."

"Why not?" said Harry. "It would only be them, and who would believe them if they started spouting off?"

Kara and Castor nodded slowly, accepting his logic, and the four of them entered the bathroom.

They entered the bathroom in time for the troll to try and crush Hermione.

"Diversionary tactics!" yelled Harry, activating his sabre.

Kara and Castor nodded, then drew their sabres. Kara's was orange and Castor's blue.

Castor stood in front of Hermione, feet apart, classic fighting stance. The troll brought it's club down, but Castor's lightsabre sliced it in half.

Kara used the delay to take position behind the trolls' legs, which she then cut off. The legless troll collapsed, smashing several cubicles to dust.

Finally, Harry stood in front of the whimpering creature, and put it out of its misery.

The three Jedi clicked their sabres off, and led the shocked Hermione and Ron out of the bathroom before the teachers arrived.

--

"Jedi?" asked Hermione, scepticism evident in her voice.

"Jedi," replied Harry, confidently. "Me, Castor and Kara, are Jedi."

Ron was looking at them, still in a semi state of shock. They had come back to the common room, where they had been docked five points each for wandering. Harry had then told them about the lightsabres, and the Jedi. They had had to explain - after all, what else _could_ they do? Say "oh no, you hallucinated the whole laser swords thing - we used glowy sticks!" No, the truth was better.

"Can anyone become a Jedi?" Hermione asked.

Castor shook his head slowly.

"You have to be pretty talented with the Force, and you have to start young," he said. "It's a pretty gruelling training too."

Hermione nodded comprehendingly.

"Can you test us out to see if we have – you know, that 'Force' thing?" asked Ron. "Just out of curiosity, you understand..."

Harry nodded, slowly. Couldn't hurt, he thought to himself.

"Castor, go get the midi-chlorian counter," he said. "I'll test you mentally, first."

He reached out with the Force. Ron was powerful with the Force, yes, and so was Hermione...

Castor came back with the midichlorian counter, and tested them. 9000 each - quite high.

Harry started thinking. If they weren't too old, then they would be pretty good Jedi - then again, age was a barrier he had never really understood. He thought for a long moment...

"You know," he said to Castor at last, "Hermione has an instinctive ability to pick things up by reading about them, and she could easily tell Ron. And Ron has a sort of natural ability to use the Force..."

"I know what you're thinking Harry," said Kara. "It's really dangerous. What if the council found out?"

"What if they didn't?" asked Castor. "It'd be good having more Jedi around."

Harry nodded. He turned to Ron and Hermione.

"We could teach you the basics of the Jedi order, so that you could become at least part Jedi," he said. "If you're willing, then meet us here tomorrow, and we can discuss it further."

Hermione and Ron looked shocked, but they nodded.

"Now," said Harry, "I think we should all go to bed."

They all agreed with that idea.

--

_"Peace is a lie; there is only passion._

_Through passion, I gain strength._

_Through strength, I gain power._

_Through power, I gain victory._

_Through victory, my chains are broken._

_The Force shall free me._ "

They recited together, as they prepared to go into battle. Tonight, they would duel a worthy foe.

Their Master had ordered them to kill the Master Jedi that hid in the dark forest, and they were eager to get on with it.

Araphis was meditating, when he sensed his foes.

He was up in an instant, his blue blade drawn and his fighting stance prepared. There were two of them, tall, young, pale skinned with moustaches.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice taking on a threatening tone.

"Ah, you must be the Jedi Knight Araphis," said one. "I am Vinoc..."

"... and I am Karoc," finished the other. "We hope you have enjoyed your existence, Jedi..."

"... for now it is about to end!"

And with that, they drew their sabres (both blood red) and leapt to combat.

Araphis dodged Karoc, and leaped over Vinoc, landing behind the two. Vinoc brought his sword down in an arc, which Araphis blocked. As he kicked the Dark Jedi away, he blocked a crude blow from the other, before spinning into an assault that sent both flying.

"You are good, Jedi," said Vinoc.

"But we're better," said Karoc.

They leapt at Araphis, who blocked blow after blow. He spun his blade in an arc, forcing Karoc to jump back, before attacking Vinoc and slicing his lightsabre in half. Believing him to be no further threat, Araphis turned to Karoc, and launched an assault that had the Dark Jedi on the defensive. He spun, swung, thrust, uppercutted and jump sliced, each blow being blocked only just by the panicking Dark Jedi. Vinoc however, had an ace up his sleeve. He drew a second lightsabre, and attacked from behind. Faced with this sudden onslaught, Araphis couldn't block every blow, and Vinoc impaled him in the stomach. Araphis stared at the Dark Jedi's blade, in disbelief, then he stared at the face of his killer, remorseless and cruel as it was.

"W-what's the p-point?" he managed to ask.

"With you out of the way, we can kill those Padawans at our leisure," replied Karoc.

The Jedi Master stared at them, and in his last moments, he sent a message that he hoped Harry would hear...

"The Dark Jedi are coming. I am dying. Prepare yourself."

Then the blade was retracted, and his limp body fell to the floor.

--


	5. The Death Duel

V

Hermione concentrated, her eyes closed, her mind as open as she could make it. She was sitting cross legged on the floor of the common room, a lightsabre - one of Harry's spares - on the table in front of her.

"That's it," came Harry's voice. "You've got to feel the Force, flowing through you..."

She felt something, she was sure of that. A sort of - tingle. She ficused in on it, and felt a slight warmth flow through her body...

"Keep going," Harry's voice said. "Now, concentrate on the sabre... concentrate... imagine reaching out for it, taking it, and holding it in your hand..."

She imagined, concentrated, and put into practice all the things that Harry was telling her. And she felt it. The sabre was in her hand, she stood, and ignited it.

She popped her eyes open, to see Harry smiling at her. He was wearing his Jedi robes, and she was wearing some of Kara's spares.

"Very good," he congratulated. "Very good. Time to test your reflexes..."

--

He was considered one of the best lightsabre duellists in the temple of his age, and a promising young student. He was pleased that he could share his knowledge. His Master had always told him that teaching was the duty of a Jedi Knight, to the next generation. Never mind that Hermione and Ron were his age, he still felt as though he could help them, and it made him... content.

As he was about to impart some other element of Jedi knowledge, though, he felt something. Something wrong, very wrong. He closed his eyes, and concentrated on the feeling, trying to discern what it was... and there it was, an image, of a man lying on the ground, limp and pale - dead or dying.

"Do you sense that?" he asked. Hermione was about to shake her head, when a shiver ran through her whole body, and the image of the dying man appeared in her mind. She thought that he was speaking, but the words were faint, barely audible. She strained her hearing, but all she caught was "prepare".

"I think I did," she said. At that point, Castor, Kara and Ron, who had been doing some lightsabre drills in the common room main area, ran in, Ron following the two Padawans, who both looked extremely nervous.

"Did you sense that?" asked Castor. Harry nodded.

"What does it mean?" asked Kara.

Before any of them could answer, another feeling ripped through them - a voice, so full of hatred that it could only belong to a dark sider...

_"Jedi Padawans, the age of your order is at an end. I offer you another way._

_Fear leads to anger._

_Anger leads to hatred._

_Hatred leads to power._

_Power leads to victory._

_Let your anger flow through you._

_Your hate will make you strong._

_True power is only achieved through testing the limits of one's anger, passing through unscathed._

_Rage channelled through anger is unstoppable._

_The dark side of the Force offers unimaginable power._

_The dark side is stronger than the light._

_The weak deserve their fate._

_Remember these words, Padawans. Surrender to my servants, and you will be spared much pain."_

The voice faded. The three Padawans stood rooted to the spot in horror. Such words, the darkest known to the Jedi,

"Tell me that wasn't what I thought it was," Kara said at last.

"A Dark Lord of the Sith, speaking to us through our minds? I think it was," said Castor dryly, his calm tone belying the fear in his eyes. "And I think that that's a problem with a capital 'P'.

The three Jedi ran out of the common room, Ron and Hermione running after them.

--

They ran into the entrance hall. A few people milled about, looking at the quintet in their strange robes. Harry tried to feel for his Jedi Master, but he couldn't find him - and the image of a dying man filled his head again.

"Master Araphis is dead..." he choked, shock running him through like a sabre. He couldn't believe it - the brave Jedi Knight felled? How? Who?

Kara gasped, Castor took his sabre out of the folds of his robes and Ron and Hermione stood still, waiting for someone to tell them what to do, to give them instruction. They didn't understand what was going on, but at 'Dark Lord' they'd already known that it was bad.

"Now what?" asked Ron at last.

At that point, the doors to the entrance hall exploded open.

"What the bloody -?" Ron yelled, staring in shock.

"Thermal detonator?" Kara asked.

"Can't be," Harry said. "Wouldn't have caused so much damage."

Two robed figures entered, eliciting screams from some people. They marched into the hall, where Professor Snape, the Potions Master and Hagrid, the gameskeeper, went to intercept them.

"Who are you?" demanded Snape of the two figures. "What do you want?"

"I am Karoc," one of the men said.

"And I am Vinoc," added the other.

"We want the Jedi Padawans," continued Karoc.

"We are to take them to our Master," added Vinoc. "So get out of our way."

"I don't know who you mean," Snape said, "but you will not get anywhere through Force. I know your kind..."

He reached inside his robes, presumably for his wand, but before he could draw it out, one of the men raised his hand and unleashed a bolt of Force lightening the gripped Snape and threw him across the room. Hagrid looked at the downed man in shock.

"Get... Dumbledore!" Snape hissed, before passing out. Looking at the two figures, Hagrid seemed on the verge of doing something else. Harry could sense his rage building.

"No Hagrid!" he yelled. "Go! We'll handle this."

Hagrid wavered a moment more, then ran for help. Harry couldn't help but be relieved. Castor and Kara, however, looked at Harry in sheer disbelief. By this time, everyone else had run away too, screaming in terror.

"Are you insane, Harry?" Castor asked. "They're highly trained Sith assassins. We can't win."

"We're the only ones with a chince. We have to try," Harry replied, gravely. Hermione and Ron moved forwards.

"We're helping," Ron said.

"No," Harry snapped, blocking him. "You won't last two seconds in a fight against these two."

"And you will?" countered Ron. "Castor taught me the basics, and I can always improvise. I've borrowed his spare sabre."

"I'm fighting too," said Hermione. "I'm not letting those two run amok."

They took out their borrowed sabres, but didn't ignite them.

"Plan?" Castor asked, ignoring the melodrama that seemed to be starting.

"You and Kara take one," Harry replied softly, "I'll take the other." The twins were getting impatient, and now that the hall was empty it was obvious who Harry and the others were. "You two can finish yours off, in time to help me with mine." He didn't add the silent _I hope_.

"And what about us?" Hermione asked.

"I said, you aren't fighting," Harry told her. "Either of you. It's us they want, not you."

Hermione sighed, sensing that there was no point arguing. Ron looked angry, but he nodded to Harry, who smiled encouragingly.

"Maybe next time, eh?" he said.

"Excuse me for interrupting," one of the twins (Harry couldn't tell which) said loudly, "but if you are the Jedi Padawans, you can surrender now. Goodbyes to your pals aren't neccesary."

Harry grimaced, and turned back to face the Dark Jedi, his body subtly shifting into battle stance.

"Leave this place, and live," he told them calmly. "Or fight and die."

"You think you can kill us?" sneered Vinoc.

"Yes," said Kara simply.

"We're Jedi, you're Dark Jedi," said Castor, his bravado belying his earlier words. "We've been killing your kind for millennia."

The twins snarled as one.

"Just because our Master wants you alive, doesn't mean you have to be in one piece," Karoc sneered, igniting his blood red sabre. "Prepare to meet your demise!"

"Not today," Harry smiled back, igniting his own green blade.

"You want to fight us?" Castor grinned at the two Dark Jedi, igniting his blade as he did so, "it's your funeral, but I'm not paying for it."

"Jedi scum," Vinoc said, his blade snapping up. "I'll dance on your bones!"

"The Force will giude us," Kara put in, her orange blade raised to match the Dark Jedi's. "You haven't got a prayer."

For a single moment, the combatants stood, silent, watching each other, then they all ran into the fight as one. Harry jumped up and brought his lightsabre down on Vinoc, who blocked the strike with practiced ease, while Castor and Kara flanked Karoc. Harry spun into a counter as Vinoc brought his blade down in a viscious arc, then uppercut to try and drivce the Dark Jedi back. Castor and Kara were forced onto the defensive, Karoc swinging his sabre left and right, nearly decapitating Castor with his last swing, and kicking Kara into a wall, where she banged her head nastily. Hermione ran to help her. Karoc Force pushed Castor away from him and stood over the girls, raising his sabre and smiling evily.

"You die now," he said.

He brought his sabre down, but it impacted on a blue lightsabre blade. Ron had joined the fight.

"I dunno who you are, what you want or where you came from," the young initiate said, "but as far as I'm concerned, you hurt my friends, you pay for it."

He brought his borrowed sabre up to block Karocs first strike, and forced him onto the defensive with a powerful (if highly unfinessed) assault. Meanwhile, Vinoc was backing further and further back, Harry's blows getting closer and closer each time. Harry was marvelling at his own luck at driving the Dark Assasin back, but kep t his mind focused. Castor ran to aid Ron against Karoc, sensing where the ginger trainee was going to strike and perfecting a method of striking where Karocs guard was weakest. Vinoc swung a desperate counter strike that Harry blocked with ease, and backed against the wall.

Harry held his sabre up to Vinocs throat.

"You're beaten," he said simply.

Vinoc smiled at that, a leer that chilled Harry to the bone.

"I don't think so," the Dark one said. He quickly took his second sabre out. Harry jumped back in time to avoid being impaled by the rapidly igniting blade, and drew himself into a defensive posture.

Karoc fared less well than his brother.

Faced with Ron's furious, if hardly finessed, attack, and Castors accurate strikes, he mis-stepped fatally, and was impaled by Castors blade.

Castor retracted quickly, but it was too late for the Dark Jedi, who collapsed with a look of abject disbelief. Seeing his borther fall, Vinoc screamed in utter rage, and went straight for Castor, knocking Harry aside.

"YOU'LL DIE JEDI SWINE!" he bellowed.

Castor ducked under Vinoc's first blow, and parried his second. Vinoc then launched into a series of badly judged but powerful strikes, Castor dodging each one. "Surrender now," suggested Castor, as he blocked yet another of Vinocs attacks. Vinoc responded by kicking him in the groin.

Castor staggered back, and tried to block the Dark Jedi's attacks with only one hand, but Vinoc sliced the sabre handle in two.

Castor Force-propelled himself out of the way of a death blow, but rammed himself into a wall.

All this had taken place in less than a minute, but now Kara and Harry could react.

They attacked Vinoc from behind, but now the rage was flowing through him, and he parried their blows with practiced ease.

Castor stood up, watching this. Castor and Kara would be killed by the lunatic if he didn't do something soon...

He reached out in the Force, concentrating on Karocs lightsabre. It flew to his hand.

He felt the grip - a little better than his own sabres, actually. Easier. More grip, sturdier. He ignited it, spun it a couple of times, getting used to it and then launched himself at the Dark Jedi's unprotected rear. Vinoc couldn't turn in time... and Castor impaled him in the back. The Dark Jedi collapsed to the floor in a heap.

The three Jedi (not to mention Ron and Hermione) stood silently for a moment.

"What in the name of all that's holy?" came a voice from above them.

They turned to see Professor Minerva McGonagall looking down at them, in horror at the mess that had been caused, and in shock at Snape lying unconscious.

"You five - headmaster's office, NOW!" she barked.

Castor looked at Harry. Harry shrugged, and followed Professor McGonagall up. The others followed him.

--


	6. A Revelation

VI

--

Harry, Castor, Kara, Ron and Hermione waited for the headmaster to speak.

They had been taken up to see him, McGonagall leading them to the third floor. He now sat by his desk, surveying them, McGonagall waiting impatiently. Finally, he spoke.

"Minerva, would you please leave us alone?" he asked politely.

McGonagall nodded quietly, and left the room. As soon as she did, Dumbledore stood up, and began reciting.

"_There is no emotion; there is peace._

_There is no ignorance; there is knowledge._

_There is no passion; there is serenity._

_There is no death; there is the Force."_

Harry, Castor and Kara registered expressions of utmost shock, then as one bowed. Hermione nudged Ron and they too bowed.

Dumbledore bowed back, serenely, and calmly sat down.

"I knew I could rely on Yoda," he said.

"You know Yoda?" asked Harry instantly.

Dumbledore smiled.

"It will make more sense if I start from the beginning," he told them. "There is a long tale to be told, and it would be best if you knew it, so you understand more about me,. and why _you,_ Harry, are a Jedi."

Harry said nothing, merely waited for Dumbledore to begin. Eventually, he did, taking a long breath, and beginning his tale.

"Years ago, before I was born, my father was an orthodox Jedi Knight. He was the one who first discovered the portal, and went through it. Unfortunately, he never found a way back. Ever. He met my mother, eventually, and fell in love, and they had three children. Me, my younger brother Aberforth, and Ariana, my sister."

Dumbledore sighed at this last name.

"When I was born, my father knew that I would need to be trained in the Force. If I was not, the Dark Side would take me, and combined with magic, I would become a greater threat to harmony in the universe than Darth Bane himself. So he trained me, and my brother when he was old enough. But Ariana… she was attacked by three muggle boys who saw her doing accidental magic. My father went ballistic – he Force Choked one of the boys into submission, and nearly killed the other two with his lightsabre – at the last second, he realised what was happening to him, but he was far, far too late. He was sent to Azkaban, and died there, never revealing _why_ he had attacked those muggles. Ariana went mad – she never used magic again, and the fact that she didn't drove her insane – the magical power bottled up inside her... well, it wasn't good."

Dumbledore stopped to wipe a tear from his eye, and looked at it, as if surprised it was there.

"I haven't cried about it for so long," he mused. "Memory is a wondrous thing."

He looked back to his audience, and saw that they too were crying.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't stop to think that this might be distressing for you," he said.

"No, no it's alright," said Kara. "Please continue."

Dumbledore nodded, and he did continue, eventually.

"Ariana eventually died – the why of it has little to do with this tale – but without her, my brother swore that he would _never_ be a Jedi again. And so did I. It was my belief that if our father had not used the Dark Side in front of her, she wouldn't have been driven insane."

Dumbledore sat up, and Harry sensed that this was where the interesting part of the story began.

"Years later, when I was transfiguration teacher, I was contacted via the Force because someone else had gotten trapped."

_"Yoda?!"_ asked Castor, incredulous, guessing who the person was.

"Yoda," confirmed Dumbledore. "He had been trapped for three days, and had sought out any Force users from this reality. Imagine his surprise when he met a potential Jedi then, hmm?"

Dumbledore chuckled softly.

"He began training me, properly, using the forbidden forest as a hideout, and eventually, though it took me a year, I achieved the rank of Knight. Together, using the Force, we opened the portal to Coruscant again, and Yoda left. Before he did, however, he promised me that he would help me whenever I needed it."

Dumbledore smiled, and now addressed Harry alone.

"Years later, when your parents were murdered, Harry, I decided to send you to Yoda. I had already deduced that you were strong in the Force, and using all my Force power – with a little help from a very reluctant Aberforth – I reopened the portal, and contacted Yoda. He sent one of his best Jedi Master's through – "

"Master Qui Gon Jinn," said Harry at once.

"Yes, Master Qui Gon Jinn, and they took you for training as a Jedi Knight. I trusted Yoda to make sure that you were safe. To explain your disappearance, it was decided to make it known that you HAD survived the attack by Voldemort –"

Ron shuddered at the name.

"- But that you had been taken in by a family in a remote part of the world. Of course, I had to arrange a fake search for you to ascertain that you were with the said family. Every so often, Yoda would send reports of your progress, and I'm pleased to know that you did so well. We decided to send you to Hogwarts, as planned, because it would be suspicious not to. And that leads us up to today."

He sighed after he had finished. He looked slightly younger than he had before, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Now then, I hope that clears up a few things, because I have some questions of my own," he said.

"Such as?" asked Harry politely.

"Yoda said that he'd send a Jedi Knight to continue your training, and yet I sense no Jedi presence outside of this room," Dumbledore said. "And I have searched."

Harry breathed in, hesitantly.

"Master Jacen Araphis was sent to aid us," he said, "but I think he was ambushed by those Dark Jedi. He's dead."

Dumbledore nodded, but closed his eyes, and breathed in heavily.

"He is now one with the Force. My second question relates to these two."

He indicated Hermione and Ron, who were standing behind the 'official' Jedi Padawans.

"I sense that they have started training in the ways of the Force," said Dumbledore. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there an age limit on when you can start?"

"We asked to be trained," said Hermione.

"I asked them to test us," said Ron, "after they killed the troll at Halloween.

"Oh so that was you three, was it?" said Dumbledore, mild amusement on his face. "Glad to know who did it, because that was a bit of a mystery. We didn't quite get who could have done that, though I had my suspicions."

Harry smiled a little sheepishly.

"And from there, we'd only just started training when the Dark Jedi turned up," said Hermione.

Dumbledore nodded slowly.

"Well, that all makes sense," he said. "Do you know how these Dark Jedi knew you were here?"

"Well," said Castor, "one would assume that they sensed us through the Force."

Dumbledore's eyes widened, and he slapped his head.

"Of course – my apologies," he said. "I should really have known better. Sometimes I forget how powerful the Force really is. I should have taken more steps to protect you. In my arrogance, I expected that Hogwarts' built in defences would be enough."

He looked back at them.

"Well, I won't take up any more of your time," he said. "Good day to you."

They bowed, all of them.

"May the Force be with you," said Harry.

Dumbledore smiled as they left.

"And may the Force be with you, Harry."

--

"Dumbledore a Jedi!" said Ron, surprise evident in his tone. "Never in a million years..."

"Why not?" said Hermione. "He's smart, and wise, and powerful. Most wizards aren't half as powerful as he is!"

"True," said Harry. "But I'm quite surprised too. It's not something I was expecting. What really surprises me is that he didn't stop you two from training – I would have thought he would."

"Me too," said Castor. "It is sort of against the rules, you know."

Hermione looked a bit worried, and Ron voiced the thought that both of them had.

"You won't – you know – stop training us, will you?" asked Ron.

Harry laughed.

"Are you kidding?" said Castor, as Harry calmed down. "You saved my life today, and I won't forget it! I'll train you even If Master Windu himself comes to stop me."

"And that's saying something," said Kara. "Castor's scared of Mace Windu."

"I am not!" he replied. "I find him intimidating, but I'm not scared!"

Leaving his friends to bicker, Harry went to bed. This had been one hell of a strange day…

--

Darth Sidious cursed silently beneath his robes.

He should never have trusted Vinoc and Karoc – too impatient, too stupid, to understand how not to kill everything in their paths. Sidious was glad he had never inducted them into the ranks of the true Sith Lords…

Darth Maul stood behind him. The short man had his hood up, disguising his horns, but his red and black tattooed face could not be hidden.

"Master?" he asked. "What do we do now?"

"Nothing," replied Sidious. "It is obvious even to me that this Harry Potter is too far ingrained as a Jedi to ever turn. His friends are also ingrained."

"What of these ones he trains – they are not so ingrained, Master," said Maul.

Sidious pondered. Maul might just be an assassin with a lightsabre, but it was clear that he had his own brand of wisdom.

"Perhaps you are right, Maul," Sidious said. "The girl or the boy might prove useful – they are certainly strong with the Force…"

He looked out upon the world of Coruscant.

"With them trained by us, we might be able to take over this galaxy easily."

He turned to Maul.

"But none of this matters yet. I want you to seek out Queen Amidala, take her back to Naboo, and make her sign the treaty. Nothing else must get in your way."

"What of the two Jedi, Master?"

"Qui Gon Jinn is a worthy foe, but his weakness is his fighting style – form four. As for Kenobi…"

Here, Sidious grinned evily under the cloak.

"… as for Kenobi, he is young, only recently Knighted. He will be an easy kill. Now go, Maul."

"Yes, Master," said Maul, before he turned and headed for his ship.

Sidious turned back to watch the traffic of Coruscant.

"Your time is over, Jedi," he said softly. "The time of the Sith Lords has returned…"

--


	7. The Dark Lord Voldemort

VII

Time had passed. Harry had settled deeper into Hogwarts, becoming more ingrained in its ways, its secrets and its routines. The students who had witnessed the battle between the Jedi and the Dark Jedi had had their memories modified, and they had been easily convinced it was just some prank. Snape had apparently spoken to Dumbledore, but Harry knew nothing more than that.

Right now, Harry was meditating. He liked meditating. It was more relaxing than sleep, and more helpful. He could occasionally see glimpses of the future when meditating. Not that it ever helped him much, but it was nice.

He fell deeper into the meditation, and let his mind wander. He saw Hermione and Ron practicing downstairs, and unconsciously egged them on. He noticed Draco Malfoy, a petulant little brat from Slytherin, wandering around like a fool.

And he saw Quirrell running about on the third floor – in the forbidden corridor?

He pushed himself deeper, searching out the reason behind this.

There was another presence with Quirrell in the corridor. An evil one.

A familiar one.

And then, Harry realised who it must be. Quirrell was a host, for the most evil man who had ever lived in this reality…

Harry came out of the trance. The others had to be warned.

--

Harry bolted down the stairs to the dormitory, where his friends were practicing. Ron and Hermione had come a long way now, and they were certainly pretty good, even by Jedi standards.

"Castor, Kara, Voldemort is in the school!!" he was yelling, manically. Castor and Ron ran to him.

"Calm down, Harry!" said Ron, holding him steady. He'd never seen Harry panicking before.

"Voldemort is in the school," Harry said slowly. "The third floor, forbidden corridor…"

"What?" said Castor, looking perplexed.

"He _is_ here," Harry insisted.

Kara looked at Harry for a moment, then a resolute look settled onto her face.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go stop him!"

Ron stared at her like she was insane.

"Are you brain dead?!" he yelled. "Do I look suicidal to you? This is You-Know-Who we're talking about! He's the single most powerful wizard in the bloody world, apart from Dumbledore!"

"Relax, Ron," said Hermione soothingly. "Dumbledore's still here, isn't he? We can –"

But Harry was shaking his head.

"He isn't here. I can't sense him."

"You-Know-Who's here, and Dumbledore isn't?!" screeched Ron, now close to hyperventilating.

"We can stop him," said Castor, taking his sabre out. "We can beat him."

Harry nodded, solemnly.

"We've no choice," he said after a moment. "Whatever he wants, it must be important. He can't be allowed to get it."

"I'm in," Hermione said.

Ron put his head in his hands, and the others waited for him to say something.

"I guess I haven't got a choice," he said at last. "Someone's got to be the voice of cynicism."

--

After a while, they entered the room with the three headed dog. A harp playing in the corner kept the dog asleep, but Harry didn't think it would be for long.

"Come on," he said. "Down the trap door."

He lifted the door, and the other's jumped down. The dog was just starting to wake up when he jumped.

He fell through a ragged hole cut in a plant of some sort, and landed on his back.

When he landed, he found himself on a stone floor. Hermione had her lightsabre (still the same old blue-bladed sabre Harry had lent her) active and out, as did Castor (who wielded the red blade he had taken from Karocs corpse) and Ron (who wielded a green blade he had modified from Castor's spare sword). Kara was rubbing her head – evidently she had fallen on it. She was only now taking her sabre out.

"What is that stuff?" he asked.

"Devils snare," said Castor, before Hermione could respond.

"What?"

"Devils snare," Castor repeated. "A particularly nasty plant. Hermione cut through it, and freed the lot of us."

Harry nodded, not really listening. Voldemort was up ahead, he could sense him…

_"Quickly fool, work it out!"_

Harry had the oddest feeling the 'fool' was Quirrell, but work out what?

"Come on," he said, "we've got to hurry."

The next room had flying keys. It took them only a moment to work out which key fitted the door, and Harry used the Force to grab it.

The next room, however, would not be so simple.

"It's a chessboard!" said Ron.

"A chessboard?" repeated Castor, slightly bemused.

"A big chessboard," pointed out Hermione.

"Doesn't matter," said Harry. "We've got to stop Voldemort!"

He ran across the board, but as he approached the other side, the white pawns drew their swords. Undeterred, Harry Force jumped over them, and turned to see how the others were doing.

The Chess pieces had surrounded them, weapons drawn. They had their Lightsabres out, and ready for action.

"Go, Harry!" yelled Castor. "We can handle these!"

Harry didn't want to leave his friends, and made to jump back, but Castor was already jumping over a bunch of peices and slicing them up, and the others were faring well.

"I'll come back!" he yelled to them, before running.

--

He entered the room where Quirrell was.

"Face me, Voldemort!" he called out.

Quirrell turned on his heel at the sound, and looked at Harry in dismay and shock.

"You!" he called. "How did you -?"

"None of your business," said Harry. "Face me like a man."

_"A man?"_ came a cold, high voice. _"But I am not a man, Harry Potter. Still, if you wish to face me…"_

Quirrell unravelled his turban, and Harry looked at the mirror.

A face was underneath the turban - slit like nose, scarlet eyes, and classic scowl.

_"Harry Potter,"_ it said. _"We meet again."_

"Yes," Harry said. "Prepare to meet your end."

_"MY end?"_ Voldemort said with laughter in his tone._ "You're the one who will die here, Potter. But first… tell me what you see in this mirror…"_

Harry stared at him for a moment, then looked at the mirror. Nothing too remarkable, really. Then he saw the image change. The image of Harry got older, and the Jedi robes it wore became more ornate and personalized. He grew a beard, and he drew a lightsabre that shone emerald green…

Two other people appeared behind him. Harry recognised them just barely as Castor and Kara. Castor had an ginger beard, and his bright orange hair had toned down a bit. He wore darker robes than mirror-Harry, and his lightsabre, when he clicked it on, was brilliant ultramarine blue. Kara (who obviously DIDN'T have a beard) was shorter than the other two, and her drawn sabre was now sunshine yellow.

Harry stared at this for a moment, and realised that this mirror was showing him what he wanted to see…

"I see me and my friends," he said simply. "We're older."

Voldemort's face registered shock, before he smiled again.

_"Of course,"_ he finally muttered. _"He doesn't know about the stone."_

"Then why did he come down here, Master?" asked Quirrell, obviously confused.

"Because I wanted to stop you," said Harry. He let himself feel the Force. He felt calm, relaxed, but in control.

Voldemort obviously tired of him, so he shouted to Quirrell.

_"Kill the boy!!"_ he yelled.

Quirrell jumped, but Harry, a Jedi Padawan with training in the art of lightsabre combat, was ready.

He drew his sabre, and cut Quirrell in half as he leapt. The speed at which he took down the evil one surprised him a little, but he was just glad he'd survived. The cauterised pieces of Quirrell landed on the floor, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

Which quickly turned into a scream as the spirit of Voldemort came out of the corpse and flew straight through him…

--

When he awoke, his first thought was for his friends.

"Castor, Kara -!"

"They are alright," said an old voice. "We managed to save them before any of them were seriously injured."

"Good this is," came another voice. "Brave, Castorabusallio and Kara are."

Harry sat straight up, and stared at the two figures. Master Yoda and Professor Dumbledore sat side by side on the chairs the hospital wing provided.

"Master Yoda!" said Harry, panicking, "I can explain about Hermione and Ron sir, they –"

"Explained, Dumbledore has," said the venerable Jedi Master. "Talk of that later, we will. Right now, bad news I have, concerning your former Master, Qui Gon Jinn."

"What about Master Qui Gon?" asked Harry, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"Killed, he was, some time ago, by a Sith Lord."

Harry nodded, saddened greatly by this. But Master Qui Gon was one with the Force now.

"Told me, Dumbledore has, of your duel with two Dark Jedi," continued Yoda. "Brave you and your friends were. Therefore, the children Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley are to be assigned Jedi Masters."

"Who?" asked Harry.

"Hermione Granger, assigned to Dumbledore will she be," said Yoda.

"And Ron?" asked Harry.

"He will be assigned to you."

Harry nodded, then did a double take.

"Me?!" he said, dumbfounded.

Yoda smiled.

"Earlier this year, the council let nine year old Anakin Skywalker become the oldest Jedi Padawan," said Yoda. "Today, great pleasure does it give me to make you our youngest Jedi Knight, along with Castorabusallio and Kara. Trials you have faced that many Jedi thrice would not have survived."

Harry nodded, still speechless.

Yoda hopped off the seat he was sat on, and looked Harry in the eye.

"Understand – largely honorary this position is. Still much to learn you have." He indicated Dumbledore, who was observing politely. "Jedi Knight Dumbledore, your training he will oversee. Keep you on the path of right and good he will. You, in turn, teach this Ron Weasley you shall. Dumbledore, agree to train these young ones do you?"

"It is an honour," Dumbledore smiled, inclining his head.

"Master Yoda?" asked Harry.

"Yes?" replied Yoda, smiling.

"Are we coming back home this summer? Me, Castor and Kara, that is?"

"No," said Yoda, smiling even wider. "Stay here and train you will. Put you up, Dumbledore will, or so he has said."

Harry looked to Dumbledore.

"I hope you don't mind staying in school, Harry," said Dumbledore.

"Mind?!" said Harry, grinning. "I'd love to!"

Dumbledore smiled at him, radiantly.

"There is no need for you to unpack," he said. "See you at the leaving feast."

Harry sat back in his bed, and grinned. Whatever he had thought before, he was now one of the most content Jedi in existence.

--

In another universe, on the planet Coruscant, Darth Sidious planned and plotted, with his newest apprentice Darth Tyranus - otherwise known as Dooku. Dooku had been a Jedi knight, and a MAster, but he had grown disillusioned with the order, and had eventually decided to leave. He had toyed with finding Sidious, and killing him, but instead, Sidious found him, and convinced him that they were not that different after all.

"My Master, what are your orders?" Tyranus asked.

"I need you to bring me the girl Hermione Granger," he said. "She will be a great asset."

Sidious had decided, after remote probing their minds, that of the two potentials to be turned to the Dark Side, Hermione Granger was the better choice. Ron Weasley was wilful, but loyal to his friends to a great degree, and though angry, he also possessed a changeable nature, and tenacity. His turning would be difficult, dangerous, and possibly not even permanent should it succeed, since the boy was also possesed of that worst enemy of the Dark Side - guilt. The boy reeked of it every time he made a decision that could turn him to the Dark Side.

Hermione Granger, on the other hand, while loyal to a degree, was also a keen seeker of knowledge, and had a frustration which, if turned to the right purpose, could make her a powerful Sith. Knowledge was power, and power was the sole motivation of a Sith Lords life.

"I shall set off immediately, my Master," said Tyranus.

Sidious smiled as Tyranus left. Victory would soon be his…

--


	8. Witness The Power Of The Dark Side

VIII

Hermione was meditating. Harry had taught her how to meditate, during the last term. She agreed with his assessment that it was actually quite relaxing.

_Knock, knock._

She opened her eyes at the sharp sound.

_Knock, knock._

She cursed softly, and closed her eyes, trying to meditate some more.

_Knock, knock._

She cursed again, got up, went to the door, and opened it.

"Yes?" she said, before seeing who it was.

A tall, elderly man in a black cloak was standing outside her door. He had short silver hair and a silver beard.

"Ah, hello," he said, his voice regal, and posh, cultured and at the same time, somewhat alien. "My name is Count Dooku. I have been sent by the Jedi Council to escort you to where you will be trained."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at this. Did this guy think she was an idiot.

"I sincerely doubt that," she said. "For one thing, most of the Jedi Council don't know I'm being trained, and for two, Professor Dumbledore's the one who's coming to pick me up. So why are you here, really?"

Dooku's face showed a flash of anger, then he quickly smiled.

"I see there is no deceiving you," he said, softly. "So I shall have to go for plan _B_."

He held his hand out, and before Hermione could react, lightening flew from his fingers and struck her. She flew backwards, and rammed into the hallway wall. Dooku left a letter on the desk in the hallway – part of the cover story behind the girls disappearance was that she was off with friends. The letter would assuage the parents concerns.

He picked the girl up using the Force. She would be a powerful asset, as his Master had said – but a powerful asset to Dooku, not Sidious.

He walked her to the local conveyance – an 'automobile' - that he had picked up. It was a little way down the road. 'Very odd method of conveyance', he had thought after driving it around for a while, 'though it is quite relaxing.'

"Excuse me," came a polite voice.

Dooku turned – a tall man with long silver hair and a longer silver beard was standing with his hands folded behind his back, watching Dooku intently. A young man with bright orange hair was already drawing out a lightsabre hilt, and another three children, one girl with blond hair, and two boys (one with red hair and one with jet black) were running up behind him.

"And you would be?" asked Dooku, politely.

"Professor Albus Dumbledore," said the tall man. "May I ask who you are, and what you are doing with Miss Granger?"

"I am Count Dooku, and it is none of your business what I am doing with '_Miss Granger'_," said Dooku, taking his lightsabre out.

Dumbledore said nothing, but calmly drew his own lightsabre out and ignited it. A brilliant blue blade shot out of the hilt.

Dooku ignited his own red blade, and settled into a fighting stance.

The younger ones, three boys and a girl, all drew lightsabres of their own, but Dumbledore held out his left hand to stop them.

"You should stay back," he said. "I will deal with this 'Dooku.'"

"Deal with me?" said Dooku, outraged. "You'll die is what you'll do!"

Before Dumbledore could say anything, Dooku sent a bolt of Force Lightening at him, stronger than the one that had used on Hermione, and he was sent flying.

--

Harry watched in horror as Dumbledore was thrown backwards by Count Dooku's attack.

He knew who Dooku was – a prominent Jedi member – so why now was he kidnapping Hermione and attacking Dumbledore? It was a riddle. Harry didn't care about that, though. He knew that Dooku would soon turn his attention to the younger Jedi – so he quickly snapped his sabre on and up.

Dooku turned to the younger Jedi.

"If your Master there could not stop me, you can't," he said "so I wouldn't even try."

"Why are you doing this?" Harry asked. "You're a Jedi!"

"_Was_ a Jedi," Dooku corrected. "I walk a different path, now."

Kara, Ron and Harry went for him, pacing themselves enough to not get defeated instantly. Castor tended to Dumbledore, who was groaning, stunned.

Kara went into her attack, swinging her sabre for the Counts head – he neatly blocked this, but she sent another series of powerful swings his way – only for him to block each and every one of them.

Harry tried to hit him on his unguarded side, only he never seemed to have one – always moving his sword into the perfect position to block any and all strikes.

And Ron, being prolific only in Form I lightsabre fighting (shii-cho), only got a few attacks in before Dooku sent him flying across the street. Harry gritted his teeth, and continued fighting, while Kara remained unflappable.

As the two young Jedi span around Dooku, trying to divert his attention, he seemed to spin with them, always facing an assault head on, and blocking it with a perfectly balanced move.

Kara, frustrated by the experience, swung a desperate strike a Dooku, but he parried it, knocked her sabre out of her hand, and stabbed her arm at the shoulder.

Harry kept going, but steadily, he wore himself out on Dooku's immovable defence.

One mis-step...

He lunged forward, attempting to copy Dooku's style, but ended up knocked to the ground.

Before he could get up, Dooku had grabbed his lightsabre from the ground using the Force, and held them both at Harry's throat.

"So you see," said Dooku, in a conversational tone, "I am the superior fighter. You could not win. I'll leave you alive, to remember not to challenge your betters."

"Sorry, sir," came a voice from behind them. "I don't think I've learned that lesson yet."

Castor was standing up; his body was held in a battle stance that Harry had never seen before. His sabre – still the one he had taken from Karoc, gleaming red – held out in front of him.

"Ataro!" said Dooku, appreciation evident in his tone. "I'm impressed. Not many young Padawans choose Ataro. They all go for something easy like Soresu or -"

"I'm no Padawan," said Castor. "Me, Harry and Kara are all Knights, by appointment of Yoda himself."

Dooku's eyes widened at this, then he chuckled.

"I see," he laughed. "The council must be getting desperate."

Castor growled, and Dooku smiled, his mind racing.

'Such anger! What if he could be turned, I wonder... he would be a powerful asset, more so than the girl.'

"So you wish to challenge me?" Dooku said aloud.

"Yes," replied Castor, the borrowed Sith Blade he wielded shining red.

Dooku grinned at him, beckoning him forward.

"Well, if you want to die, that is your choice," he said amiably. "Let's see who's truly the best."

"I will stop your evil here and now!" the young Jedi yelled in response.

Castor snarled, and with a battle cry, he swung the blade downwards, his anger pouring into it. Dooku blocked the strike, and found himself forced onto the defensive as Castor spun his blade up, down, left, right and diagonally to try and hit each of his weak spots. Dooku blocked each strike, marvelling that although the boy wielded Ataro, his rage made it almost as dangerous as Vaapad in Mace Windu's hand. Almost as dangerous, but nowhere near as skilled, he mentally amended.

And Dooku realised that, slowly, the boys' style seemed to be turning from Ataro to Vaapad, his strikes becoming more direct, the strong emotion behind them becoming more evident.

"Come now, boy," Dooku chided. "You could destroy me if you only released your anger more! The Dark Side could give you enormous power..."

"I want only the power to defend against the darkness!" Castor yelled, his eyes blazing with rage. "You've turned, Dooku, but I won't let you turn me!"

"With every moment, you turn more and more, boy," Dooku said. "I can sense your hatred, building inside you…"

"Hatred towards you, Dooku," Castor snarled. "I'll kill you, with the Dark Side if that's what it takes!"

Dooku smiled at Castor's bravado.

"You cannot defeat me," he said. "You have not the skill, the training, or the power to destroy me."

He switched off his lightsabre. Castor, sensing the moment to strike, leapt forward, flying through the air, lightsabre raised…

And Dooku unleashed a bolt of Force lightening, that caught him and sent him flying. When Castor landed, Dooku walked towards him, and smiled. He held his hand up again – Castor tensed...

And a bolt of red light knocked Dooku off his feet.

He landed in a heap, and only got up slowly.

Dumbledore was standing, his lightsabre on, his wand out, and his face a mask of righteous fury.

"Leave him alone."

Dooku snarled. He wouldn't be able to catch Dumbledore off guard again, and the thought of fighting him was – unpleasant. Still, he wasn't a prolific Jedi for nothing.

"Defend yourself!" he yelled.

"I do not wish to fight, but you leave me no other choice," Dumbledore replied, as Dooku attacked. Dooku noted that his foe was not using one of the traditional styles, but an amalgamation, some Ataro moves with a Makashi centre, Vaapad stance, Soresu delivery. Dooku found his own style seemed insufficient to halt this, and the man eofre him was certainly as experienced as he was. As he spun around, his red blade flashing, he tried a number of different assaultsa, but none of them worked.

Dumbledore couldn't get the better of him, but neither could he get the better of Dumbledore. It was a standoff.

He stepped back.

"You are a truly worthy foe," he congratulated. "I wish I had more time to duel you and test your skill, but alas, you seem to have foiled me. So, farewell, Dumbledore - until the next time."

He leapt off, using the Force to propel himslef, before running away, heading for the portal.

Dumbledore watched him go, disengaging his sabre, before going to help Castor.

"Are you all right?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes, I'm fine," said Castor. "How much of our conversation did you hear?"

Dumbledore gave one of his knowing smiles.

"Nothing I paid too much attention to," he said. "Although I think you had best keep away from Vaapad."

Castor nodded, and went over to Harry.

Dumbledore resolved in that moment, as he _had_ heard Castor and Dooku's exchange, to keep an eye on Castor should he survive his injuries. But as Castor helped Harry up, Dumbledore smiled. He did not think that Castor would turn to darkness – his heart was too good, too loyal to his friends.

Dumbledore winced as pain shot up his side.

He'd better have a damn good excuse for Madam Pomfrey for bringing three children in with cauterised burns.

--

"So why did he want Hermione, out of all of us?" asked Ron, voicing the question.

They were all in Dumbledore's office, talking about what Dooku wanted in their universe.

"I dare say he believed her to have qualities that made her a potential Sith Lor – Lady," replied Dumbledore. "I can only hazard a guess as to what those qualities might be..."

Hermione was standing alone in the corner of the room, out of choice – on hearing Dooku wanted her, she had been mortified.

"What qualities?" asked Hermione.

"Your thirst for knowledge, perhaps," said Dumbledore. "Knowledge is the purest form of power, and gaining power is the key philosophy of the Sith Code. Another reason he wanted you may have been your occasional short temper, which is never a good thing for a Jedi to have, but hopefully under my tutelage you shall learn to control it."

Hermione nodded.

"So do we tell Yoda and the rest of the Jedi Council that Dooku has turned to the Dark Side?" asked Castor.

"No," replied Dumbledore firmly. "That is not necessary."

"But if Dooku has turned..." started Kara.

"Then it is the Council who must deal with it," finished Dumbledore. "We cannot here, without solid proof that it was Dooku, just go accusing him of turning to the dark side."

"It was Dooku though," said Harry. "I saw him in conversation with Master Qui Gon a couple of times – it was him."

"Can you prove it tangibly though?" asked Dumbledore. "My point is that Dooku may still have friends on the Jedi Council, and Yoda helped train him – saying that a former protege of Yoda's has turned to the Dark Side will not go down well."

Harry nodded, Kara sighed and put her face in her hands, Ron and Hermione nodded, not really understanding this bit of Jedi Politics, and Castor –

Dumbledore watched Castor intently. He was merely standing, and hadn't even nodded at Dumbledore's words, but his fists were closed and his teeth seemed to be gritted under his closed mouth.

"I think we should all get some rest," said Dumbledore. "Ron and Hermione – go home, I've arranged transport. Harry, Castor and Kara can go to the dormitories."

They all nodded, and left.

--

Dumbledore sat back, and relaxed.

Perhaps Dooku was a Sith, or a Dark Jedi, or some other form of Dark Force User, but it didn't matter. It didn't affect his plan.

Dumbledore turned towards the Pensieve, and focused on the memory.

Years ago, he had a Force Vision, and what he saw haunted him to this day.

An image rose out of the Pensieve. A vision of the great hall of Hogwarts.

There were many lightsabre user's there, Jedi all, Dumbledore could tell – that was where he had gotten the idea for sending Harry to be trained from, and why he had consented to allow Castor and Kara here as well.

The hall in this image was battered. There were cloaked and masked figures lying on the floor, and more stood up, shooting curses. It was an image of Jedi at war against Magic users, and it terrified Dumbledore – because he knew that in that battle, the students of Hogwarts were the ones who would suffer.

He sighed, and closed his eyes. The image vanished.

He would protect the students of Hogwarts with every breath in his body – and beyond.

This he vowed as a Jedi Knight, and as a Wizard. This school was sacred, and could not – would not – be harmed while he drew breath.

--


	9. Dark Spirit in the Diary

IX

"Welcome to another term at Hogwarts!!" bellowed Dumbledore to the people in the great hall.

Harry smiled, Castor groaned, Kara rolled her eyes, Hermione paid rapt attention and Ron was sitting glassy eyed.

They had stayed at the school for all the remaining time that there was before the start of term. Dumbledore had started training Hermione to control her emotions. Harry and Ron had spent the time training Ron up – after being soundly trumped by Dooku, he had decided to take up a slightly more complex lightsabre form – he had picked Form III, Soresu, which Harry was fortunately quite an expert on.

Castor had, ignoring Dumbledore's suggestion, had started studying Vaapad, much to Harry's concern.

--

_The lightsabres clashed, the emerald green and the blood red. Harry swung another fine Soresu strike at his opponent, but the move was blocked easily, to be countered by a powerful swing that caught Harry off guard , knocking him to the ground. His opponent stood over him, lightsabre hovering by his throat, for a long time._

_Then Castor switched it off and held out his hand._

_Harry took it gratefully, and looked his friend hard in the eyes._

"_That wasn't Ataro," he said at last, motioning to Castor's deactivated Sabre. "So what was it?" _

"_Vaapad," replied Castor, putting his sabre away._

"_Vaapad?" _

_Castor stared at him._

"_Yeah, Vaapad," he said at last, his voice taking on a defensive tone. "It's fantastic for offensive fighting."_

"_Offensive?!" said Harry, aghast. "We're Jedi! We don't do offensive!"_

"_And the lack of wisdom in that approach was evident when Dooku creamed us in thirty seconds," pointed out Castor. _

_Harry shook his head, and left Castor alone in the training room, where his friend continued practicing against invisible opponents._

_He passed Kara on the way out. She stopped when she saw his face._

"_What's the matter?" she asked, always the most perceptive of them._

"_He's dabbling with the Dark Side," replied Harry, shocked and dismayed by this. "He's started using Vaapad."_

"_Did he win?" asked Kara._

"_Well, yes, but... he might turn to the dark side!"_

"_Master Windu uses Vaapad," interrupted Kara, her voice soothing. "He's adept at it. But he has never turned."_

"_Castor is not Master Windu," countered Harry._

"_But he has that strength of will," she said. "Trust him, and the Force, and all will be well."_

_--_

Forcing his thoughts back to the present, Harry shook himself out of the memory, and looked back to the staff table. The new DADA teacher was a man in garish robes who was, according to the feeling he was generating, an arrogant, ignorant fool. Which was a bad thing, for the defence teacher, especially since Voldemort was still around. Snape, the potions teacher, was his usual self. As usual, Harry couldn't get a clear reading from him.

The other teachers were the same too, and Harry wondered if anything at all had changed.

Finally, Dumbledores' speech ended, and the students left for their common rooms.

In the common room, Ron was congratulating his sister Ginny for getting into Gryffindor. She was apparently a nice person – according to Ron's description of her last year – but Harry hadn't managed to validate that theory, on account of the fact that she wouldn't talk to him, and indeed ran away whenever she saw him, which would have hurt anyone else's feelings, but he just shrugged – he was famous, appreantly (something he had no interest in), people would doubtless be scared to meet him face to face.

For some reason - probably over eating - he had a headache. He closed his eyes and focused on the headache - it seemed to be being caused by something - he couldn't tell what. When he was alone in the common room (after everyone else had finally gone to bed), he closed his eyes and concentrated. The feeling was sonething in the castle, something resonating in the Force - something evil.

--

The next day, after a full day of lessons that he had once again been stellar in (which was now almost normal for everyone involved) he returned to the common room with Castor and Kara.

"I dunno," Castor was saying. "It's like... somethigns driving itself into my head, you know?"

"Yeah," Kara replied. "Still, what can we do? It's probably just this place."

"No, it's not," Harry countered. "I can feel it to - something evil, in this castle."

"Evil?" Castor said. "What?"

"No idea," Harry replied. "All I know is, it's here, and it's nasty."

"What can we do?" Kara asked. Castor looked to Harry, who seemed reticent, then visibly steeled himself. Then he held his hand out, and closed his eyes. Harry guessed a second too late what he was doing.

"Castor, wait-"

But it was too late. A small, blue book flew out of the door to the girls dormitory and landed in Castors hand. A moment later, it and Castor were both wreathed in blue lightening, that rippled acroiss the boys body, and he screamed, louder than Harry thought anyone ever could...

Then he dropped it, and dropped to the floor. Harry took out his sabre, but before he could ignite it, Ginny ran downt he stairs.

"Has anyone seen my diary?" she asked, before her eyes rested on Castor. "He nicked it!"

"No, he summoned it," Kara said. "And it did that to him."

Ginny looked down at Castor, who was breathing, but also smouldering slightly. Karta went to his side, and picked him up, before resting him on the sofa.

"How could it do that to him?" she asked.

"Because it's wreathed in dark energy," Kara explained. Harry looked at her.

"You think?" he asked.

"Well, it's hardly gonna be light side energy," she replied, sarcastically. "Question is, what do we do?"

Before Harry could answer, Ron and Hermione ran down the stairs from the boys dormitory, looking worried.

"What's happening?" Hermione asked. "We heard a scream!"

"Castor's been hurt," Harry said, indicating his fallen friend. "Badly. We need to find a way of destroying that book."

"No, wait..." Ginny said.

"It's dangerous," Kara said. "We have to destory it."

"You can't!" Ginny said. "It's... it's my friend."

Everyone looked at her, increduosly.

"Your... friend?" Ron said at last.

"It's got someone living in it," Ginny said. "A really good friend. He's... he's the only friend I have here. Yet," she added, defensively.

"This friend is obviously some sort of Dark Force spirit," Kara said. "At least, I think it is."

"The magical equivalent, anyway," Harry agreed.

"Look," Ron said after a moment, "I can't say I get what the hell your talking about, but I get one th8ing - that thing has to be destroyed."

"No!" yelled Ginny.

"Ginny, whoever your 'friend' is," Harry said, "it's hurt Castor, and it might hurt someone else - you in paticular, since it's your diary. We have to destroy it."

"It's the only way to stop it's evil from gettin' loose!" added Ron, Hermione moving to back him up, nodding solemnly. "Destroying it guarantees that the school will be safe."

His blue blade ignited, and he brought it forcefully down upon the book. Before it impacted there, though, a red blade swept under it, and caught the blade before it got anywhere near the diary.

"No," said the voice of the owner of that blade. Castor Voraainsar was standing, his eyes flashing, his face knitted into an expression of absolute agony, his clothes still smouldering, his blade blcking Rons'.

"If... anyone will... be destroying that... t – thing... it'll b – be me..." he said, his voice weak but firm.

Ron stared at him, then nodded silently. He understood what Castor meant.

"Thanks," muttered Castor, who turned to the diary, and regarded it.

"I will not submit to the darkness," he muttered, and he calmly stabbed it.

What he had been expecting was for the book to burn, and disappear into a cluster of ashes. What he had not been expecting was for the book to spit ink like it was blood, then scream. It was the scream of absolute agony.

When the noise stopped, everyone was staring at the dead book – for it had been alive, they realised that now.

"What say we don't tell Dumbledore about this one?" asked Castor, his clothes cooling off and his voice returning to it's normal stregth.

"I think you're right," said Kara. "It's gone now, it can't ever come back. Are you ok?"

"It takes more than a... thing to stop me," Castor replied, grinning. "Whatever it was."

"Whatever it was," murmured Harry. It had felt... familiar. Like something he knew. It had almost felt like –

"Voldemort," he murmured softly, but no one noticed. He let it slide.

Ginny was still staring at the dead book, then she finally looked at the others.

"What was that?" she asked. "Those glowy... sword, things... what were they?"

Harry grimaced, then looked at Castor.

"Well?" he asked, the answer already known.

"Well what, Harry?" Castor replied. "It's your call."

Kara nodded, as did Hermione, but Ron looked worried.

"I'm not sure she should know – I mean, it's…"

"Whatever it is," Ginny said, "I want to know about it."

Ron said nothing, but slumped his shoulders and nodded his head. Hermione and Kara smiled and Castor sighed.

"Well," said Harry, settling into storyteller mode, "it all started a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

--


	10. Seeds of the Jedi Academy

X

"... and that brings us to now," finished Harry.

For the last hour, Harry (with the occasional comment from Castor and Ron) had been explaining the situation with the Jedi, the Dark Jedi, the Sith and all the other main problems the quintet had been facing to Ginny, who was standing there with an evermore astounded look on her face.

When Harry finished, she asked the question Harry had almost been expecting.

"Can I become a Jedi?"

Castor groaned, and put his head in his hands.

"Another out-of-temple Jedi, Harry?" asked Kara, ruefully, her voice making it plain that she disapproved. "Have we not got enough on two?"

"At the very least we should test her," said Harry, privately wishing his friends weren't such sticklers for the rules. "Anyway, Castor, you don't mind breaking the rules!" he continued, realising that Castor was one of the advocates of this new system he was making up.

"It's not that," protested Castor, adopting a 'hurt' tone. "It's just that we can't keep finding Force Sensitive's and training them – there's only three of us, and you're busy training Ron!"

"Don't worry," said Harry, suddenly smiling craftily. "I have an idea. First let's check whether Ginny is actually Force Sensitive."

He closed his eyes, and let himself feel Ginny's presence in the Force. To his astonishment, her light burnt bright as a star, brighter than many he had sensed, surpassed only by Yoda, Mace Windu, Dumbledore, and Dooku.

"Well?" Ron asked. "Will I have to deal with another Jedi in my family, or won't I?"

"Oh, I think you will," Harry smiled. Ginny beamed at him, and Ron crossed his arms.

"This is becoming a bad habit," Castor groaned.

"Harry," Kara said shrewdly, "what is this great idea you had?"

--

"So, just to understand you," said Dumbledore, hands clasped together in front of his face, after Harry had explained his idea, "you want to A: find out whether any of the students has Force potential, and B: set up a 'Jedi Academy,' of sorts to train these individuals that are, and you want to do both of these things under the nose of the Jedi Council, who will ahve our heads on spikes if they find out?"

"That's pretty much it," said Harry, nodding his head with an intense expression of seriousness on his features. They were standing in the office, alone, and he hoped that Dumbledore was willing to give it a go. Dumbledore stared at him for a moment longer, and then he broke out a grin.

"Well, that might be interesting. We'll give it a go."

--

"A new extra curricular club has been started by myself," Dumbledore said the next morning, his voice serious but his eyes twinkling. "Only a select number of students can take part, since it requires a certain form of magical energy to join these classes. The following people have been identified as capable of it, in order they were identified. Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Ronald Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Castor Troy, Kara Vincennes, Harry Potter, Percival Weasley..."

At the mention of Harry's' name, the whole hall erupted into chatter. What sort of magical energy was it? Why could only certain people use it?

Dumbledore finished the list, and sat down. He looked for Harry, found him, and winked.

--

Several days later, they entered the Great Hall, where the lessons would take place. Harry, Castor and Kara had to come to these new lessons, if only to maintain appearances.

Dumbledore stood up at the head of the Hall, where he had his traditional Jedi robes on.

"I trust you all have the uniforms I had owled?" asked Dumbledore.

They did – the Hufflepuffs (of which there were roughly twelve) had mainly yellow robes, the Slytherins (of which there were about five) green, the Gryffindors (twenty) red and the Ravenclaws (nine) wore blue. Castor and Kara were somewhat irritated that they had to do the lessons, but Dumbledore's explanation had mollified them somewhat.

"Still think it's a bit insulting, having to do these lessons when we're full Knights now," said Castor, annoyed at this a great deal.

"We have to train a bit more," said Harry. "He only made us Knights because we'd faced Dark Jedi and survived – we still have much to learn."

"Yeah well..." grumbled Castor. "I really hope it's worth it."

Dumbledore, it seemed, was a quite good mass teacher. Within the space of thirty minutes, he had taught the class the basics of how to contact the Force, and basics of sword combat, using training lightsabre's. Harry, Castor and Kara used their own lightsabre's, of course, though no one knew they were their own.

Castor and Kara had both built new lightsabres. Castors was blue, like his old one, which he had missed so he'd built an exact replica. Kara had built a new sabre - in yellow - because she felt that it would help her accommodate to the new life she was building. She had been... homesick, was the word most people would have used, though she had only ever told Castor and Harry, and she felt that she needed to build a weapon that reflected the new life she lived.

Finally, Dumbledore ended the lesson.

"You are to each take one of these," Dumbleodre said, holding out a small metal device. "They are called Holocrons. Your homework will be to study them intently, and no, I'm not telling you how to use them. That's the first test."

He smiled.

"Class dismissed."

--

Dumbledore took Harry aside at the end of the lesson.

"Have you found an apprentice for Castor yet?" Harry asked, hoping that Dumbledore had. A Padawan learner would definitely help Castor get back on track, they both agreed - something for him to keep his mind on.

"Well," said Dumbledore, "I have, but I will bet you anything he'll be unpleasantly surprised."

"What about Ginny?"

"Well," Dumbledore said, "I think it best if she goes through the same process as the other ones who came here today - at least until the end of the year. Then we'll send Kara home with her, and she can train Miss Weasley slightly more."

"Sounds fair to me," Harry said. "And maybe she can help Ron as well. Who did you assign to Castor?"

--

"Hello, you must be Castor Troy, I'm Luna, nice to meet you."

Castor stared at the girl wit a mixture of horror, shock, and mild thoughtfulness.

"Let me guess," he said at last. "Dumbledore assigned you as my Padawan learner."

"That was the term he used, yes," replied the blonde girl, whose face betrayed only a mild interest in the boy who was her Jedi Master.

"Right, well, let's start with the obvious," said Castor. "You are a Jedi Knight, so you've got to memorise the code -"

"Done that."

"And tap into the living Force -"

"Done that."

"And build a lightsabre -"

"Dumbledore leant me a spare."

Castor shook his head, and smiled – almost.

"And you've got to," he said, solemnly, "most definitely..."

"What?"

"Stop interrupting your Jedi Master."

"Oh."

Castor looked at Harry, hopelessness showing on his face. Harry only shrugged and laughed. Luna Lovegood would be perfect to keep Castor on the straight and narrow - he'd be too busy trying to make sense of her to do anything mad.

He sighed. This would be a nice, quiet year.

--

And it was. Apart from Lockhart, the DADA teacher, being sacked for gross incompetence (something to do with nearly getting them all killed by Cornish Pixies), nothing much happened. The end of the year saw Harry and co. pass their tests with flying colours. Harry waved to Ron as the train sped away, bearing his friends with it. Castor had gone to stay with the Lovegoods, to make sure that Luna got all the training he could give her, and Kara had gone to stay with the Weasleys to make sure that Ron was alright and Ginny got the training she needed.

Harry was alone on the platform. He sighed - he would miss his friends, but perhaps they could meet up over the summer...

--

_Two men._

_One in black robes, one in cream. One with a red lightsabre, one with a green. One a servant of darkness, one of light. So similar they are, and yet so different. Seperated by a gulf as wide as the space between stars, yet close as two grains of sand on a beach._

_They clash, again and again, their sabres spinning, they are warriors, Gods of war, their duel ripping the battlements they fight on to ribbons as they fight._

_One final clash and -_

Dumbledore shot up with a start.

Force Visions were rare for him, but he did have them every so often, and this one was the most disturbing he had ever had.

He laid his head down again. In darkness and in doubt, he would always be here for the students of Hogwarts. That, at least, was certain. And if not him, his old apprentice still lived, to carry the torch...

--


	11. The Convict

"Harry, I need to tell you something important," said Dumbledore solemnly. Dumbledore closed his eyes, and shook his head.

"No, no, no..." he said to himself, "I can't tell him it like that, he'll think that Miss Granger or Mr Weasley or Mr Voraainsar are dead or some such thing."

He sat up, opened his eyes, and again spoke to this non-existent Harry.

"Harry," he said, his tone much lighter, "there's something you need to know. It's about your Godfather..."

Dumbledore exhaled irritably.

"That won't do either. Damn."

He looked at the picture that had caused this need to talk to Harry. A man with scraggly hair, and a shaggy beard.

"**_Sirius Black Escapes!" _**was printed close to the picture, along with the title **"Daily Prophet."**

How could he tell Harry that?

--

Harry sat at the table, saddened.

No friends to talk to, no missions to go on, and Dumbledore was becoming reclusive, never coming down to the empty Great Hall, never talking to Harry. It had been sort of like this last year as well, but then he'd had Castor and Kara to talk to. He had never felt more alone.

Desperately, he closed his eyes, seeking solace in the Force.

_Oh James I'm sorry I failed you and Harry, oh why did I ever trust that little rat, oh Harry I wish I could find you tell you but I can't I can't it's hopeless... _

_Pettigrew. Your time is come, rat! **I'M** COMING FOR YOU! RETRIBUTION WILL BE MINE! I WILL AVENGE JAMES!!_

He snapped his eyes open. Someone, an innocent soul, was in anguish, trapped by his own despair... but now free to kill this 'Pettigrew' person.

He looked up as Dumbledore entered the empty Great Hall, a solemn look upon his face.

"Harry," he said, his tone serious, "there is something that you need to know, about a man named Sirius Black."

"Who?" asked Harry, surprised by this - Sirius? He'd never heard the name before in his life.

"He was – and still is – your Godfather."

"My Godfather?" said Harry, more shocked than ever. "How come I've never heard the name?"

Dumbledore sighed, and gave Harry a saddened look.

"Because..." he said, his voice heavy. "Because he betrayed your parents to Voldemort, and killed thirteen people the same night, including another of your parent's friends."

Harry stood, rooted to the spot. This was... unreal...

"What was the person's name?" he asked at last. "The name of my parent's other friend?"

"His name," replied Dumbledore, "was Peter Pettigrew."

Through Harry's mind rang the words that he'd heard. The wronged soul, wronged by a man named Pettigrew...

"Pettigrew?" he asked, trying and failing to keep his voice neutral.

"Yes, Pettigrew," said Dumbledore. "What's wrong, Harry?"

"I think you need to know something, Professor..." said Harry, before regaling the tale of what the Force had revealed to him...

--

Sirius Black was hiding. He seemed to be doing that a lot, lately. Of course, when you were the most hunted man in Great Britain, hiding was kind of compulsory. At this point, he was in a kiddies playground, which - although rather desolate at night . He was in his dog form, which was a great deal safer than his human form. He needed to find Peter Pettigrew, the stinking traitor, and make him pay...

_Sirius Black._

He turned back to human form in the blink of an eye.

"Who's there?!" he called out.

_Me._

"Who are you?" Sirius yelled.

_Harry._

"Harry?!" repeated Sirius. "How do you know –"

"He knows a lot of things, Sirius," came a different voice, an older voice. "Sometimes he knows more than those who are meant to be wiser."

Sirius turned, to see Albus Dumbledore stepping out of the shadows, dressed in a strange brown robe.

"Dumbledore?!" said Sirius, gobsmacked to see the old man here. "How did you -?"

"Harry," said Dumbledore. "He saw into your mind, and saw that you were innocent – and who was guilty."

"But – but – but HOW?!" yelled Sirius in a mixture of utter joy and utter confusion.

_The living Force_, said Harry. _We know who you seek, and you know how to get him. But you need our help to do it_.

"What?" asked Black, confused. "But... but how did you know I'm innocent.

"It'll all make sense when you come with me," said Dumbledore.

_Trust me, as you trusted my Father, _added Harry in his mind.

Sirius stared at the old man – the man who he had trusted, but who had sent him to Azkaban. But then he thought of Harry - so young, so full of hope. He knew he could be walking into a trap, but he also knew he could be one step away from finding Pettigrew, and making him pay...

"I'll go with you," he said. What else could he do?

--

The train finally arrived. Harry watched it pull in. He was looking forward to seeing his friends again, especially since he had had no one of his age to talk to for six weeks. Sirius had not yet found Pettigrew, but he said that he had a lead, and was ready for him when he came.

When the train stopped, Castor, Kara, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna Lovegood walked out.

"Harry!!" called Castor as he stepped out. "She's mad! Mad as a bloody hatter! How the hell you expect me to work with her..."

"What?" asked Kara, grinning. "You're blaming her because her Dad is stupid enough to have an exploding horn..."

"That _she _was stupid enough to lift using the Force, causing the whole house to collapse," retorted Castor.

"The Crumple Horned Snorkack is a very crafty creature..." replied Luna, oblivious of Castor's scorn.

Harry pulled Kara away from the laughing crowd.

"How's she going?" he asked, referring to Ginny.

"Fine," replied Kara. "I have to say, she's not nearly as in touch with the living Force as she ought to be."

Harry nodded. This was a problem that Harry had noticed with Ginny – she was great with a lightsabre, but her ability to sense the future was low, and her ability with the Force for telekinetic powers – well, it was more like _lack _of ability to be quite honest.

She was powerful, no doubt, but it was more her control – sporadic at best, and at worst downright awful. That would be fine – a Jedi's control of the Force was more... instinctual than conscious, but even so, a Jedi needed to control the Force to some extent. Even worse than all that was Ginny's temper; three weeks into her training under Harry, she lost control and used her Force power to smash a vase she had been levitating. This had understandably made Harry and the other's nervous, but they couldn't just start her training and not finish it – the die was cast... they had to continue.

And Harry had faith in her. He would train her now, and make a good job of it, if it killed him.

He shook himself slightly, bringing himself back to the present. He had a lot to think about, including just how he'd tell Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the others that he was helping Dumbledore hide a wanted man.

"Excuse me," came a voice. "Harry Potter?"

Harry turned, to find himself facing a youngish man. He wore shabby robes, but the inner calm that preceded him was undeniable.

"I'm Remus Lupin. We need to talk."

--

"You are sure of this?" asked Sidious.

"Beyond any doubt," replied Dooku, smiling even as he knelt.

"Castorabusallio Voraainsar..." murmured Sidious. "A strange thought, that a Jedi so loyal should be so attuned to the Darkness..."

"He is," reiterated Dooku. "He is as attuned to the Darkness as any Jedi I have ever met, save perhaps Mace Windu..."

Sidious pondered. If this Voraainsar could be turned... no. It was too much. These Wizards were too powerful to mess with, and this Dumbledore was as much of a danger as Yoda.

"Though he could be a powerful asset," Sidious said slowly, "we cannot waste any more time trying to turn people who live in another universe, when there is another who could be ten times as powerful."

"You mean Skywalker," said Dooku. It wasn't a question.

"Yes. His power is exponential. He will be the perfect apprentice for me..."

"And me?" asked Dooku, his tone expressionless. "What of me?"

"You know what your role is."

Dooku nodded, and walked away.

Palpatine sighed. Dooku was powerful, but there was no way that he could be the true apprentice. He was old, he had not the killer instinct a true Sith needed. The Apprentice was a role dedicated to Skywalker.

Or, perhaps, this Voraainsar. Either way, Palpatine would rule the galaxy, with an apprentice by his side. It was his destiny.

--


	12. The Boggart

"Why do we need to talk, Mr Lupin?" Harry asked, facing the man properly.

Lupin smiled graciously. "I'm an old friend of your Fathers," he explained, soft of voice and calm of manner. "I'm teaching DADA this year, and I wanted to say hello."

Harry grinned at him. He had not yet met anyone who would not talk well of his father, but he hadn't met a friend of his - apart from sirius, but that was different. Sirius was currently waiting, calmly, for the moment when Dumbledore would expose peter Pettigrew.

"You can't be much worse than Lockhart," he said, jokingly, after a moment's pause.

"No," said Lupin, smiling 0- he had heard about how bad Lockhart was (he had been sacked for an incident involving a transfiguration spell and a First Year student which only the timely intervention of McGonagall had prevented from turning fatal). "I suppose I can't, can I? Anyway, I'm afraid I have to go."

"Alright sir," Harry said, amiably, bowing slightly out of habit. "I'll see you in class."

"Yes, you will," Lupin replied. "Oh, and Harry?"

"Yes, Professor Lupin?" Harry replied.

"Watch out for the Dementors."

With that, Lupin walked off.

--

"Dammit!" muttered Lupin as he walked off. How can I have bottled it so spectacularly?

He'd been waiting to speak to Harry for months, about who he was, and what he knew, but he had bottled it when he saw the young boys face. Young, and brave, and so very like his father – except for the whole Jedi thing...

At least, according to Dumbledore. The 'Jedi thing' was something Dumbledore had revealed to the entire 'old crowd' as he called them, at the beginning of Harry's first year. It wasn't something Lupin pretended to understand, but he still had to deal with it. And he would as best he could. He sighed, and continued to prepare for the first DADA lesson he would have with them.

--

"What are Dementors?" Harry asked Castor.

Along with Kara, Ron and Hermione, he and Castor were in the common room.

"Well," his friend replied, "they're not nice."

"That's putting it mildly," Kara put in. "You were shivering."

"You were crying," Ron pointed out.

"They make you relive the worst moments of your life," Hermione told Harry. "They consume emotions that are positive."

"Yeah, so, to sum them up," Castor concluded, "they're not nice."

Harry nodded, and blandly wondered what the worst moment of his life was.

'Jedi scum... I'll dance on your bones!'

He shuddered. That was a bad memory, alright, but hardly his worst. He hoped he wouldn't meet a Dementor – he wouldn't want to know what the worst was...

--

"So then," said Professor Lupin in the first DADA class of the year. "I hope you're prepared, because this may be a challenge."

The students nodded uncomfortably. Lupin returned the nod, and then broke into a huge grin.

"Nah, not really. It's actually quite simple, actually," he said. "We will be learning how to face off against Boggarts! Now, who can tell me what they are?"

Hermione's hand shot up. Castor nudged Harry.

"Well obviously she knows," he murmured, acidly.

Harry nodded, sharing the joke, but at the same time concerned for his friend. He had become darker and darker, and being Luna's teacher only partially reined him in.

Ad his study of Vaapad was making him dangerous. Their last training session had proved interesting when he actually burned Harry's back. He had apologised profusely, but the fact remained, he had changed...

Dumbledore was always quick to point out that Castor was now teenage, and that he could easily be like this due to hormones, but Harry privately felt as though Dumbledore knew too little of the Force – no matter what his father had been, no matter that Yoda had taught him. Of course, Harry considered, maybe arrogance was a flaw becoming common in more Jedi, not just Castor, but Harry hoped his friend would snap out of it.

"A creature that assumes the shape of our greatest fears," Hermione said, bringing Harry back to the here and now.

"Exactly!" Lupin replied, beaming. "Ten points for Gryffindor! Now, we are going to face the Boggart, and try to defeat it. A simple charm – Riddikulus – will repel the Boggart, but only if you counteract the fear you feel with laughter, humour!! I'm sure we can all do that."

Lupin stepped forth, ready to open the cupboard.

"Imagine something humorous, and the Boggart will be transformed," he said. "Ready now... who's going to volunteer first?"

Castor stepped forward first, ready to face whatever was there. A smirk spread across his face.

"Easy," he said, his voice slightly arrogant, but still humble to a degree. He stood facing the cupboard, arms folded, robes billowing, ever so slightly.

The cupboard opened slowly. The old doors creaked...

And another Castor stepped out. He wasn't in black, he wasn't tattooed, he wasn't swinging a red lightsabre around, he was just... standing there. Identical to the real Castor in almost every other way – except that his eyes were yellow. He inclined his head and glared right at Castor.

"You," it said. Lupin gasped softly – Boggarts could not talk!

"You," it said again.

"You must die," it added. Now it took out a lightsabre, and ignited it. It was bright, blood red. Castor smiled, and held up his own lightsabre, retrieved from his flowing robes.

"That proves one thing," he said. "Boggarts have a sense of humour – 'cos you must be joking."

He jumped forward, and sliced the creature in two. It lay smoking on the floor, but then it reconstituted, and stood up, grinning like a skull.

"It can show you what you fear!" Hermione yelled. "You didn't even touch it!"

Castor nodded, grateful for the advice, and he parried three swift strokes. Then he spun the blade, and smiled, sarcastically.

"Now I get it," he said, and then he smiled more genuinely, and raised his lightsabre in front of his face. He thought of Dooku, lightening flowing from his fingers, and the Boggart raised its own hands.

"Riddikulus!" Castor cried, just as the creature sent the lightening forth... and it electrocuted itself, screaming in agony...

Then it vanished back into the cupboard, and Lupin shut the door, before giving Castor an evil look. Castor looked around, to see everyone shocked or angry.

"Well," he said, smiling still. "I thought it was funny."

--


	13. Darth Enigma

Harry had been preparing this little surprise with Dumbledore and Sirius for about three weeks now.

"You're sure that the rat is Pettigrew?" Harry asked, referring to Ron's pet Scabbers.

"Too sure," Sirius said. "It's been weeks now. I know that rat inside out, back to front and sideways – I saw it too many times not to."

"We cannot turn back from this course now," Dumbledore added. "The die is cast."

Harry smiled, but still felt some doubt.

"It will hurt Ron, that his pet should disappear," he said.

"Of course," Dumbledore replied, sagely. "But all things die – and now, Ron is a Jedi Padawan. He must allow –"

"– attachment to flow from his life, I know," Harry said, feeling mildly annoyed – he disliked that tenet, always had, in truth. Now he was older, he was beginning to see the point of attachment, and to see the lack of point in the principal of no attachment. Castor had always agreed with him on this point – not that Harry wanted to think too hard about Castor at the moment.

As for Kara, she had always remained carefully neutral on the subject, but Harry knew her true opinion. Something he would not divulge, for she didn't know he knew how she felt about…

He shook his head free of distraction. This needed absolute concentration.

The rat ran down the corridor, stopped, sniffed, then continued. Sirius nodded form his hiding place – it was Pettigrew. Dumbledore stepped out behind it and raised his wand, and Harry blocked it's path. It squealed and kept running, but suddenly, with a bright flash, it became a man, short and rat-like in appearance, dressed in a ripped and torn suit.

"Ah!" he yelped, but Harry blocked his path, with a slight snarl, to intimidate him.

"Surrender," he suggested. Pettigrew turned to face a white-faced Dumbledore, and put his hands over his eyes.

--

Castor flopped the newspaper down onto the table and smiled.

"You had something to do with this, didn't ya?" he asked, but his tone suggested that he already knew the answer.

Rat Trapped was the headline, and Pettigrew was on the cover, being dragged away in chains. Harry smiled and said nothing. He didn't need to.

"Well, I for one am glad that such a horrible little man is finally being punished for his crimes," Hermione said, smiling. "All's well that ends better."

"You think?" Castor said, turning to her with an incredulous smile. "The way our tenure at this school, is going, the next thing you know, there'll be a full blown war…"

"Nonsense, Castor," Kara smiled. "There's been no war here for thirteen years, and no war… home, for millennia."

Ginny said nothing, but her eyes were glazed over. Harry shook her shoulder, and she looked him in the eye.

"I think," she said slowly, not daring to speak any louder than a whisper, "I think… Castor's right. Something's happening. Something big…"

"What do you sense?" Kara asked.

"A… something… a... pact," Ginny said, laboriously, trying desperately to make sense of the conflicted feelings she was feeling, while at the same time, in her heart, feeling a great dread, so powerful that the others could sense it too. "Between… two great evils…"

--

"The power I give you, Dark Lord, will make you the most deadly being this galaxy has ever seen," the shadow said to the wraith. The wraith – the disembodied spirit of Voldemort, while not entirely pleased by this new relationship, was pleased at what his new – _teacher_, for he refused to think of this thing as his master – would give him.

A new body.

"The midichlorians will create for you a new form," the shadow said. "And this weapon," he added, letting a simple bar of metal with a switch attached, "will make you truly feared."

"Potter has one," the spectre told the shadow, hissing out every word.

"Then you will slay him, Lord Voldemort," Darth Sidious said. "And you will be a new Sith, in a new universe. Henceforth, you will be known as… what is your true name?"

The spirit said nothing, but somehow, the shadow knew.

"_Riddle_," it hissed. "Tom Marvolo Riddle. Yeessss… you will be Darth Enigma to me, your master, for your true origin is a mystery to all but a handful, as is the source of your power. The secrets you gain from me will allow you to rule forever…"

And then, a strange sensation gripped Voldemort, and he suddenly pitched forward, buck naked, ontyo the gorund. He grabbed at the weapon, and gazed at his own, near perfect human hand – not the skeleton he remembered having. He was… Riddle, again…

"I thank you, teacher," Voldemort said, and he meant it. This was a gift of exquisite beauty to him.

"Thanks… are not required," Sidious said, suddenly quiet. "All that is needed, is for you to call me… _Master_."

Voldemort looked up into the face of this being, this Sidious, and he smiled.

"As you wish… Master," he said, suddenly servile. Sidious smiled. This being had skill, but his mind was comparatively weak for one who claimed the title Dark Lord – the new body he had was subservient to Sidious's will. He would be an excellent tool.

"You will gather your forces," he said, "and destroy the castle Hogwarts, before claiming this world. Then, you will use the knowledge of the holocron I have given you to build an army. In eight years, I shall return for this army, to fight the great war I am planning. You will be ready."

"You have my assurances," Voldemort told him.

"_Good_, apprentice," Sidious smiled. "Now go. Do as I have bade."

Voldemort stood, bowed, and ran off.

_Idiotic creature, this Sidious, _he thought with a smile.

A pleasant smile and a change in tone had been his favoured tools when he was Riddle, and they remained useful now. He would build this army Sidious commanded – and when the shadowy moron came to claim it, he would die.

Voldemort – or rather, Darth Enigma – had no quibbles with such a betrayal.

From what he had heard, treachery is the way of the Sith.


	14. As Time Must Pass, So It Does

_As time must pass, so time does, and Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Castor, Kara, Hermione, Ginny and Luna all live normal and happy enough lives… until one day, three years after the breakfast at the table where Ginny Weasley spoke of war, during the Christmas holidays…_

--

Castor Voraainsar – he had long abandoned the full name, Castorabusallio – silently thanked the Force that he had been given the chance to grow up away from the Temple, with Kara.

They were currently engaged in a snogging session of what he considered epic proportions, although then again, he had no idea what the normal duration of time for such a 'session' was – though he highly doubted most people spent five hours doing nothing else.

He had always cared for Kara Vincennes, even when they were very young. The fact that she had cared for him too had been more than obvious, and he had always known that someday, something like this would probably happen. Again he thanked the Force – because if he had grown up on Coruscant, they would have been forced apart, neutered like the rest of the comparatively stagnant order.

Here, things were different. Here, the Jedi were a force for good without neutering themselves.

Here, he was happy.

But…

Kara missed Coruscant.

She said to him, that when the day was over, when the time came for Harry to do his task and for them to leave Hogwarts, that she would have to go home. And Castor, not willing to abandon her so readily, so he had said they would go together.

Castor smiled, as they went up to the boys dormitory, empty now due to everyone being home. He considered this bliss, pure and simple.

He didn't think about what would happen if he lost her.

But, he reflected, he still had the old red blade he had scavenged from a dead Sith Assasin…

--

Dumbledore sat back in his office. There were times that the duel roles of Grand Master of the Jedi Order (Wizarding World branch – basically, a small department of trained Jedi who hadlft Hogwarts and banded together in the Ministry of Magic to help the Aurors – hands on combat experts and diplomats, as it were) and Headmaster of Hogwarts (which required more square inches paperwork per day than any other job anywhere on the planet – a statistical fact) came down hard on him.

This was not one of those times. Because something more important had come up.

"They're all here," his apprentice said to him, indicating the five items arrayed in a neat pile on the floor. "We've gathered them all up, at last. That last one was a pain."

"There's one missing," Dumbledore noted.

"I know, Master," the apprentice said. "But we couldn't get _that_ off _him_, could we?"

"It has been hard work as it is," Dumbledore concurred. "I have often wondered whether leaving Harry in the dark was the right thing to do…"

"Of course it was, Master," his Padawan replied – well, former Padawan. "If Harry knew, he would have risked too much, when we both know that he has to finish it himself – and he has to be alive to do that."

"True, my old friend, too true," Dumbledore sighed. "And I admit, I long to end this charade. My life is… so wearing. I long to end it."

His Padawan bowed his head slightly, upset by such talk.

"I still am… uncomfortable, with the role I must play, Master," he said.

Dumbledore turned, smiled, and clapped his old friend on the shoulder.

"Severus, my dear boy," he said, smiling with warmth. "You are a fine Jedi Knight, and a good friend. I trust that you will make my death swift and merciful."

"It _must_ be a show, my Master," Severus Snape, Jedi Knight and longtime double and triple agent cautioned his old Master. "Lord Enigma – _Voldemort_ – will want to se you die spectacularly, as befits a Jedi Master."

"Of course he will," Dumbldore said, suddenly unclipping his sabre, and holding the deactivated blade under Snape's chin. "And be assured, my old friend, a fight he will get to see."

Snape responded by moving faster than the eye could see, and soon, both men stood in a position that made them look as if they were about to murder each other, Dumbledore's ignited blade held at Severus's throat, and Severus's red blade – specially designed for serving Darth Enigma, Lord Voldemort, in his privately trained Dark Jedi assassin group, which included Lestrange, Malfoy and Greyback – was held at Dumbledore's chest, Severus's arm drawn back so as not to impale his former master.

Then Snape backed down, and bowed.

"Until the time, Master," he said, before turning and walking away.

Snape had not wanted to go along with this plan, but Dumbledore had made him swear. Too much depended on this now.

_You have to be free of doubt, _the voice told him. _The plan must succeed._

Dumbledore sighed, and looked at the deactivated blade in his hands. A smooth metal handle, with no grips, and a single, small button at the top for activation. All he needed. He sighed once more and quickly sent an Owl to Harry, hoping for a response promptly.

These had taken too long to gather, but now, the time was upon them

--

Harry Potter was many, many things. Friend. Teacher. Confidant. Jedi Knight, soon to be Jedi Master if Ginny passed her trial as Harry expected him to. Lover… well, no. Not yet. Perhaps never.

He had eventually relented to the inevitability of love. Castor and Kara. Ron and Hermione. Jedi Knights seemed intent on falling in love, here, Harry mused. Only himself, Luna and Ginny had all remained unattached. Luna because she was uninterested – completely uninterested – in the Living Force, having instead submitted herself to the will of the Unifying Force, the long view – she was often found meditating, staring out of windows, thinking of the future.

Harry, meanwhile still kept to the Code, as much as a former student of Qui Gon Jinn could. He would always have a reverence for the Jedi Code of non attachment, but he imagined that one day, it would crack. He accepted that.

As for Ginny… he didn't know what to think about her.

He kept getting – well, he considered them signals, but then he was not in a position where he could tell what such signals were. And he had no idea how to react.

He was distracted from his consideration by an Owl dropping a letter on his head. He quickly opened it, and his eyes widened at what he saw.

_Come to my office. The time has come. Your destiny awaits._

_Dumbledore._

Harry was on his feet and running in less than a minute.


	15. The Horcrux Blade

When Harry thought about it long and hard enough, he realised, as he walked up the long stairway to Dumbledore's office, that this must be something big.

For three years, ever since the capture of Peter Pettigrew, his school life – no, life in general – had been quiet. Too quiet. For a life where Dark Jedi assassin's try to murder you, where respected Jedi Masters try to kidnap one of your best friends, where another has an experience with his dark reflection and where diaries have souls, having three years of relative quiet must mean something is wrong.

His fourth year had been eventful, but the events had passed him by – Cedric Diggory had won the Triwizard Tournament, and a lot of acclaim.

The fifth year had been dominated by Umbridge being foisted on them by an interfering Ministry of Magic; and Harry had taken immense pride in getting her sacked when he had blown the lid on the torture she had done to detentionees.

And this was the sixth year – the year that Castor and Kara had discovered… something, and so too had Hermione and Ron.

The Jedi Academy that he and Dumbledore had set up had given rise to a new Jedi Order in the ministry, a 'new branch of magic' according to Fudge, and they were quickly recognised as an amazing boon to the wizarding world. Harry was secretly quite proud of this.

What worried him was the comparative lack of events. Comparative, but still a lack. This, in his suspicious and thoughtful mind, meant only one thing.

Trouble.

--

When he entered Dumbledore's office, he immediately felt the same horrific evil that he had felt only once before – when Castor had destroyed the Dark Diary.

There it was, along with a diadem, a cup, a locket and a ring. All of these radiated evil – apart from the diary, which felt as dead as it had when he had seen it last. He had thought it destroyed – binned, anyway – but here it was.

"What…?" he managed to murmur. Dumbledore was sat at his desk, quiet and calm.

"These," he said, gesturing to the objects expansively, "are Horcruxes. Fragments of shredded soul placed in objects of worth. They belong, as you must know, to…"

"Voldemort," Harry managed. "I figured… but…"

"What exactly are they?" Dumbledore pre-empted. "Well – when a wizard kills, using magic, their soul is shredded by this sheer act of total evil. Voldemort has killed many times – so these are the pieces of his soul that he has destroyed – obviously, he has killed more times than this, but he reserved this method of immortality…"

"Immortality?!" Harry snapped, shocked out of his pain-haze that these things lashed him into.

"Oh – almost forgot," Dumbledore smiled. "The Horcrux prevents one from dying – if ones soul is anchored to the world by one, it cannot leave."

"Right," Harry said, raising an eyebrow. It was a horrid thought. "But why…"

"Why do I have them?" Dumbledore finished. "It is a trap for him. I have… let him become aware of their presence here, so that he will be forced to come and reclaim them."

"Why not simply…" Harry began.

"Horcruxes cannot be destroyed easily," Dumbledore said.

"Castor destroyed one with his lightsabre," Harry replied.

"Did he?" Dumbledore asked. "Are you quite sure of that?"

"He stabbed it, it screamed," Harry said, a little peeved. "I'm pretty certain it's dead."

Dumbledore stared at him a long time, piercing blue eyes stabbing at Harry through the half moon spectacles. Harry squirmed slightly under that gaze.

"Are you… _quite_ certain?" Dumbledore asked again.

--

Castor Voraainsar had always known there was a darkness in him. As he sat in the common room in front of the roaring flame, he closed his eyes and struggled to reconcile this part of himself.

It was a perverse point of pride in his mind – every other Jedi was this fake goody two shoes, but Castor was _real_. Unfettered by all that Bantha poodoo of no emotions.

That was why he had always liked Harry – _Harry_ was real. Born in a whole other universe, yet somehow, so very _there, _so very _present_. Castor could respect that.

Kara was a whole different story; blonde hair, almost unnatural beauty (a genetic trait of her family, from what Castor had heard) she always seemed so… otherworldly was the only word he could think of. So calm. So good.

No wonder, he thought with a smile, he had fallen in love with her.

Sometimes, the niggle of doubt came to him – what did she see in him?

What did he have that no one else did?

_Nothing_, the voices always replied. _Nothing. You have nothing she wants. She will leave you…_

He shook his head, and turned to gaze at the secret compartment, where the whispering seemed to come from. With a flick of the Force, the compartment opened and a moment later, the Sith blade he had had for six years, that he had claimed in blood, that he had earned…flew out. He had hidden it there because he did not trust his friends… no, he trusted them, but they all thought that it might be dangerous to have a Sith blade. Some residual Dark Side in it.

Pah.

This blade… this blade was something he had earned, something he had that no one else had. He admired its smooth lines and its solid grip, its elegant simplicity.

_But you do not use it._

Here was something that was his alone.

_Something you left to rot in a wall compartment._

Something that made him unique.

_Something that you must use._

Something he must use.

Something that he would use to sweep aside all the things that Harry was supposed to. Prove himself the better Jedi.

"Castor…?" came a tentative voice.

--

The young Jedi Knight turned to see Harry, Kara, Ron and Hermione standing in the doorway to the common room. Harry's eyes were fixed on the sword, Kara's on his, Hermione and Ron behind them, not certain where to look. They could all sense… something off.

"Hello," he said, blankly, calmly.

"Castor, where've you been keeping _that_?" Harry asked, pointing at the blade. Castor looked down at it, and smiled, before turning back to Harry.

"Around," he said.

"Around _where_?" Hermione asked.

Harry had filled them in on what a Horcrux was, and what Dumbledore suspected.

"Around… _places_," Castor replied, standing. Suddenly, his voice took on a more formal, more polite – more dangerous tone. "What is wrong?"

"Dumbledore thinks there might be something wrong with the sword, Castor," Kara said, but stepped back with a squeak as the blade shone out, red as blood, illuminating Castors face in a sinister way, making the lines around his eyes deeper, the shadows darker…

"No, it works quite well," Castor smiled.

This is the moment. Prove yourself.

"Castor, turn it off, and give it to me," Harry implored him, holding out his hand. Castor smiled, and angled his lightsabre to an Ataro guard.

"I earned this sabre in blood, Potter," he said, his voice slightly strangled – a hiss, almost. "In _blood_."

Then Harry met his friends eyes.

Scarlet.

"So be it," he said, ignited his own green blade with a flourish of Soresu, and then waited. Kara, Hermione and Ron ignited their own blades as well – Hermione green, for consular, Ron blue, the guardian, and Kara yellow, sentinel. Harry's was green, but for his eyes not his affiliation. Castor had always been blue – but now, Harry saw the dark path his friend had walked had been leading up to this. The arrogance, the attitude… it was the blade. The Horcrux.

_How could I have been so blind?_ He asked himself. _My friend was falling… and I let him._

"You cannot win," Castor said. "I am more powerful than you can _possibly_ imagine."

"You are a leech, _Voldemort_," Harry snapped back. "I'm gonna give you the chance to make this easy on yourself. Surrender."

"No," Castor/Voldemort said, the eyes more pronounced scarlet. "You'll have to kill him."

Harry had been afraid of that. For the briefest of moments, he turned to Kara, and gave her a questioning look.

She nodded, tears filling her eyes, but resolution in her face.

"He wouldn't want this," she said. Harry smiled – he had expected as much. He turned back to Castor/Voldemort.

"I will do what I must," he said. The possessed Jedi snarled, and leapt to the attack.

--

Ginny Weasley shot awake, feeling the hatred and the fear and the anger and the concern from below. She may not be the most attuned JEdi in the multiverses, but even she could sense that.

But also feeling something else, something familiar.

_Tom_.

--

Castor was a Master, Harry thought with a grimace. Normally, he would be pleased about that, but Castor was trying to decapitate him, so he wasn't as pleased as he might be. As he blocked three madly thrown attacks, and sent a riposte into his friends ribcage, only for it to be blocked, he stepped back. Castor spun his red blade, and smiled.

"Had enough yet, Potter?" he asked. The tone was that of Castor, the words, pure Voldemort.

"Stop," came a powerful voice from above. Castor looked up and smiled evilly.

"Well whaddya know," the tone and voice pure Castor for a moment, before reverting back to Castor. "Miss Weasley – it's been so long!"

Ginny stood still, strong, lightsabre deactivated but held in her hand.

"Leave him now," she said.

"Let me consider that for a moment," Castor/Voldemort replied, scratching a non existent beard. "I've considered. No."

He raised his sabre to guard, and Ginny activated her own, violet blade. Castor/Voldemort waited for a moment, then leapt to attack, kicking Harry to the floor in the process.

Then his blade met Ginny's.

And he screamed.

"You will never harm anyone again," Ginny promised, as the Voldemort essence was dragged into the red blade, and then, just as it came out of Castor entirely, Ginny sliced the blade in half, and the pieces fell to the floor. A moment later, a great wind whipped through the common room, and Castor dropped to the floor, suddenly seeming much shrunken. His hair, once a vibrant shade of orange, was paled, almost brown, with streaks of aged blonde thrown in.

"Tom's gone," Ginny said, more than a note of regret in her voice. "Gone for good."

"Tom is," Harry replied. "Voldemort isn't."

Kara didn't notice them talking, as she went to Castor's side…


	16. The Farce

Dumbledore opened his eyes as his apprentice entered.

"It's time," Snape said, voice subdued.

"So be it," Dumbledore replied, bowing to his long time friend. "Summon Harry."

"It doesn't have to be this way," Snape said. "You don't need to…"

"I know that," Dumbledore said. "But in fact, Severus, I do need to. If Enigma – Voldemort – doesn't think me dead, he won't feel secure enough in his plan to attack the school, and if he doesn't feel secure enough…"

"He won't," Snape cut Dumbledore off.

"And Harry won't be able to stop him," Dumbledore finished. "Trust me, Severus. Who is he sending?"

"Some of his finest Dark Acolytes," Snape replied. "Greyback and the Lestranges, Rookwood, the Malfoys – all of them, definitely. Crouch, most certainly. Myself…"

"I expected as much," Dumbledore said, thoughtfully. "Who do we have to counter them?"

"Thirty one Aurors," Snape said, "plus some of the Order. Diggory junior, Moody…"

"Good," Dumbledore said, studying his hands. Then, rousing himself, he stood to face Severus Snape. "It has been an honour, Padawan learner."

"The honour, Master, has been mine," Snape replied, bowing low. "Always."

When he looked up again, Dumbledore saw his eyes were full of tears.

"Ah," Dumbledore said. "Is something the matter?"

"Will it be worth it?" Snape asked.

"Worth all the pain we have both suffered?" Dumbledore asked. "Will the death of one man be worth my loss, countless other deaths… hers?"

The blue eyes met the black.

"Yes," Dumbledore said.

And Snape believed. He bowed once more, and left. Dumbledore smiled, then took out his sabre, studied the intricate lines of the blade, the weapon he had built himself. He activated it, and stared for a long time at the blue blade, shining in the darkening room. Then, he felt a stirring in the Force, and quickly shut it off and put it away as Harry entered his office.

"Ah, Harry," he said. "Good to see you. I need you to perform a task for me."

Harry bowed, and straightened.

"Anything, sir," he said.

"We require the aid of the Jedi Council," Dumbledore said. "As many Jedi as can be spared, for a… special mission. Voldemort has been allowed to live too long – we need to finish him, now."

"With all due respect, he's a wizard problem," Harry said. "I'm sure the Council will not…"

"He has become worse than a mere _wizard_ _problem_," Dumbledore countered. "He has renamed himself. Darth Enigma."

With the word 'Darth', Harry blanched and stepped back.

"A _Sith_?" he asked.

"A Sith," Dumbledore confirmed. "I need you to go, get the Council to send as many Jedi as possible."

Harry bowed, and went quickly out of the door.

The plan was going perfectly.

--

Harry ran to the most secluded spot he could find – and, if only he knew it, the place where Master Araphis had died some six years earlier. The body had long since been picked clean by the scavengers (Araphis' own will having been to be left where he lay when he died), but still there was a tattered robe here – and a lightsabre. Harry picked it up. The blade sounded a little forced and asthmatic upon activation, but it was still good. Harry nodded, and pocketed the lightsabre, before summoning his will.

"Foris Patefacio," he said, remembering the ritual. A small doorway of light opened, and Harry jumped inside…

--

Dumbledore stood ready in the entrance hall, some of the finest Jedi available with him. Cedric Diggory, Jedi Knight, long time friend of the school and Hogwarts Champion. Alastair Moody, Dumbledores first apprentice from the old days. Percival Weasley, the Ministers right hand Jedi. The Weasley twins. Even Aberforth had been convinced to show up.

"Al," he said to Dumbledore.

"Abe," Dumbledore replied, bowing.

"You'd better have damn good reason for getting me to come here," Aberforth snarled. "I swore I'd never wield a sabre again."

"I thought," Albus said, softly, "you might want to be here. Today."

"What's happening today?" Aberforth asked, but before either of them could answer, a rumbling started. The door to the hall blasted open, and out of the smoke, a large number of darkly robed figures entered.

"Ah, look," a cruel female voice came floating through the gloom. "A welcoming committee."

Suddenly, a number of red blades sprang into life.

"Let's have some fun," a dark, gravely voice said, and suddenly, Fenrir Greyback threw his hood back. Like all the others in his little band, his eyes were stained yellow. He smiled, and leapt forward – only for Cedric Diggory to block him, a yellow blade shining in the darkness.

"Like hell," Cedric smiled, pleasantly, before launching into the attack.

A moment later, the battle began in earnest. Nobody noticed a tall, robed, slinking figure pass the battle by.

--

Harry finished explaining the situation to his Masters. Along with Mace Windu, Shaak Ti, Oppo Rancisis, Ki Adi Mundi and Yoda, there was also the Jedi Knight Kenobi (who had fought alongside Qui Gon Jinn shortly before his death), his Padawan Anakin Skywalker, and the Jedi Knights Luminara Unduli, Aayla Secura, Tholme, T'ra Saa, Kit Fisto and Quinlan Vos.

"Accompany you, we will," Yoda said, after Harry finished.

"This Darth Enigma could pose a grave threat to both our universes," Mace Windu added. "We will join you, don't worry. Unfortunately, we cannot spare any more Jedi than the ones we have here."

"We will suffice," Ki Adi Mundi countered.

"We shall have to," Tholme said.

Harry smiled.

"C'mon Masters," he said, leading the way. The assorted gathering followed him.

--

Ginny, Castor, Hermione, Ron and Kara felt the noise in the Force from below. They looked at each other in shock, then, as one, drew their lightsabres. As they ran, Neville Longbottom joined them. Outside the Gryffindor area, Luna Lovegood joined them.

"And just as I was getting relaxed," Castor muttered.

--

The figure watched with barely contained amusement as Bellatrix Lestrange was killed. It noted dispassionately the death of Cedric Diggory at the hands of Crouch. It almost smiled at the demise of Rookwood and Macnair. More and more Death Eaters – Dark Siders – entered through the gaping hole.

Tonight would see the fall of the School.

Dumbledore was as impressive as he had bee hoping, as balanced, controlled, powerful. His strikes were like water, flowing for maximum effect while simultaneously causing no deaths.

Greyback was foolish enough to attack him, at this point, spinning his red blade like a whirlwind. But every strike he sent, powerful and deadly as they might appear, just bounced off of the immovable defence that was Dumbledore.

One misstep…

Greyback lunged too far forward. Dumbledore, very deliberately, stepp behind him, hit him with the pommel of the blade, then, as the dog fell to the floor, almost regretfully, he stabbed downwards with his blade.

The shadowy figure could guess what Dumbledore was mouthing, and he was able to lip read 'as much as I hate killing, you leave no other choice'.

Sanctimonious idiot.

The shadow decided, at this point, that enough was enough. It's finest acolyte was, at this moment, duelling Percival Weasley, and with a gesture from the shadow, the acolyte disarmed – literally – the ginger fool, and walked straight for Dumbledore, throwing back his hood.

And Snape raised the red blade. Dumbledore turned to face his foe, and raised his own blue blade. The shadow smiled.

But it didn't see the smile upon Dumbledore's own face.

--

The Farce goes something like this, as rehearsed ten thousand times, although the final act was never done. The other Jedi and Dark Acolytes are too busy in their own battling to do anything at this point, as both the players expect.

Dumbledore; "Et Tu, Severus?"

"My Master offers more power than you can imagine."

"I can imagine quite a bit."

Strike, parry, riposte, slice, parry, duck, thrust, swing.

Snape; "You die today."

"I doubt that."

"Doubt all you wish."

Parry, thrust, swing, cut, slice.

Dumbledore; "You cannot win."

"We shall see."

Thrust, parry, spin, misstep, slice.

Dumbledore's hand falls away. His sabre deactivates. Snape stands behind him, and delivers the final strike.

An ancient head falls from ancient shoulders.

The end. The one watcher stands, and applauds, and throws back his hood.

Gaunt, hollow, once handsome features, twisted into a rictus grin, blazing eyes, one red, one golden.

"Dumbledore is dead!" Lord Voldemort, Darth Enigma screams. "I rule forever!"

But then, something the Sith did not intend happens.

The body of his great foe vanishes.

And then…

Snape throws the blade to the ground in disgust, and looks up at his 'Master'. And smiles, the one thing Snape does not do. Then, he summons the fallen blue blade to his hand, and it springs to life, and he raises it in salute.

"You have revealed yourself," he says.

The Farce has tow purposes.

To make Voldemort reveal himself, which now he has done.

And to stall, waiting for the arrival of the one whose purpose from birth to death has been this one moment…

--

Castor saw it all, and he understands. He feels the farce for what it truly is. He can tell his friends do exactly the same.

"For Dumbledore!" he yelled, leaping into the fray, avoiding the revealed Voldemort, because this is the trap, he thinks.

Snape is the one who is to kill Voldemort.

But as Castor and his friends fought the Sith Acolytes, Snape joined the battle below, not attacking Voldemort, who stood, poised in rage, as if waiting for some challenge. Castor fought his way over to the double agent.

"What are you doing?" he screamed over the din. Snape said nothing, but pointed at the door.

Fourteen figures, of varying heights, stood in the doorway, berobed. Some of them were human, some definitely not so. A variety of blades lit up, including one very familiar one.

Harry Potter smiled, and looked up at Voldemort.

"It's over, Enigma," he said, calm yet loud enough to be heard over the din. "Back down!"

Voldemort said nothing, but drew his own sabre, a curved hilt, intricate snake patterns, and a blood red blade, and he leapt down to face Harry.

"No one is to interfere," he said. His acolytes nod, as they fight against the Jedi of Hogwarts. Harry turns to his peers from the universe he thinks of as home, and they nod to him, and leap to fight the Death Eaters, leaving Harry against Voldemort.

Red blade, held in a traditional Shien stance.

Green emerald blade, held in the classic opening of Soresu.

A moments pause.

Then the fight begins.


	17. Only Ever A Beginning

Harry took a split second to register the empty robes on the floor, and the absence of a certain wise old wizard, just as he and Voldemort met in the centre of the landing. He took the time to silently thank Dumbledore for everything.

Harry gave ground against the relentless, if undisciplined assault that Darth Enigma – Lord Voldemort – launched against him. He blocked again and again, spinning in time with the strikes his foe launched, and then suddenly, dazzlingly, he lashed out, forcing Voldemort on the defensive. The Dark Lord had switched from Shien to Djem So, neither of which was adequate against the Ataro that Harry now launched, using a technique shown to him by his own Master.

Voldemort, however, had a little confident smile upon the twisted face of Riddle. He blocked every strike, then lashed out again.

Backwards and forwards it went.

--

Mace Windu used a quick Vaapad flourish to finish another Death Eater Dark Acolyte. Yoda beheaded another. Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker togther were making short work of some more, Anakin smiling widely – this, to him, was relaxation.

Castor Voraainsar had just finished another Dark Acolyte when he smaw Voldemort on the offensive against Harry.

"Ron, Hermione!" he called. "Hold things together here! Kara!" he added, turning to his best friend in the world. "Stay here – don't try to follow me."

Then he turned to look for Luna Lovegood, and sighed as he saw her on the defensive against a minor acolyte – by choice.

"Luna, just end it!" he yelled. She didn't seem to acknowledge his command, but she did throw a sudden strike that neatly cut the Death Eater in two. Then he turned back to the others, who were mercifully out of opponents for the moment.

"Don't try and help me," he said. "I know what I'm doing."

They all nodded, and Kara blew him a kiss – she knew what he was going to do. They knew each other too well now.

He smiled, one last time, and leapt up, only to find himself facing off against the elder Malfoy. Lucius smiled, cruel and unyielding – and was that Draco there, looking so uncomfortable behind him? He had Force potential, Castor knew, but he had never attended the Jedi Academy.

"Hello Draco," he said.

"You're about to die, scum," Lucius said.

"Draco, I need to help Harry," Castor said, holding his sabre to guard as Lucius advanced. "You know what the Jedi do; you know we're in the right. Help us."

Draco said nothing as his father launched a mistimed attack at Castor, who blocked it effortlessly, and then Castor was too busy blocking the idiot to do any more talking – but then, Lucius grimaced, and looked down – a green lightsabre blade lay somewhere in his abdomen.

"I'm sorry, father," Draco said, and there was a definite crack in his voice. Then Lucius pitched forward. Draco stared at the green blade in his hand.

"Professor Snape told me to build this," he said.

Castor looked it over – nice grip, a bit too solid for Castors taste but definitely a good lightsabre.

"Thank you," he said, then bowing to another new Jedi, he jumped up to where Harry and Enigma were still duelling.

--

Harry sensed Castor a moment before he jumped in, and dodged around the side of Voldemort to make room. Castor and Harry had not often fought alongside one another – in fact, in the two duels against Dark Jedi that Harry could remember, they hadn't fought alongside one another at all; their knowledge of one anothers moves came from countless practice duels, Harry knowing Castors powerful, brute force Vaapad-meets-Ataro attitude well, and always countering it with a blinding mix of his own natural Soresu and the Ataro that his Master had taught him.

And now, the two styles in concert had Voldemort on the back foot. Whenever Harry struck low, Castor aimed high, and vice versa. Voldemort's one blade could only target one of the two at a time, and whoever wasn't targeted would aim a strike to take the Dark Lord down, forcing him back on the defensive.

It was well that Harry had never found out the exact circumstances of Qui Gon Jinn's death – because if he had, he might have noted the similarities – and Voldemort was a very quick study of all that Sidious taught…

Lightening fast, Voldemort sent a strike at Castor aimed not at the blade, but at the youths right hand, at the wrist. A flying kick sent the literally disarmed Jedi flying. Then he concentrated all his powerful, lightening fast attacks on Harry. H\arry tried to get back into his natural defence form, but somehow, Voldemort was stopping him, keeping him on Ataro…

Then, he launched an attack that sent Harry's guard arm outwards, but instead of taking the arm, he stabbed forward, right into Harry's heart.

Harry barely heard Castors scream of protest…

--

He pitched forward onto the floor. Then he noticed the floor was white.

Then he looked up, and everything focused. He could see… the temple spaceport? And yet totally empty.

"Ah, there you are," came a familiar voice. Harry looked up to see Dumbledore, smiling down on him.

"I'm dead," Harry said.

"No," Dumbledore contradicted him. "You're not."

"You're dead," Harry added.

"Indeed," Dumbledore smiled.

"You could have beaten Voldemort," Harry told him.

"Possibly, but it was not Voldemort who killed me," Dumbledore smiled.

Harry thought back, and he realised…

"Snape had your lightsabre," he said. "Snape killed you?!"

"He did," Dumbledore smiled. "On my instruction. It was a Farce designed for one purpose. Make Voldemort believe he had won, thus making him reveal himself – just as you arrive with reinforcements."

"And I was meant to kill Voldemort," Harry said, quietly.

"That was the general idea," Dumbledore said.

"And I failed," Harry concluded, sadly.

"It depends on you," Dumbledore smiled. "You see, I told you that you weren't dead. Well, you're not dead, Harry," he finished. "I don't say things that aren't true, without cause."

"But how am I not dead?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore looked uncomfortable for a moment, and then he raised his hand. Out of… somewhere, there came flying a small, flayed figure – a child, it seemed. But when Harry saw its face…

"By the Force," he swore, and he stepped back in disgust.

"That is one of the shattered segments of Lord Voldemort's soul," Dumbledore said. "When one rips ones soul so much, it eventually starts falling apart when one does anything damaging to a soul – when he tried to murder you, all those years ago, he broke a piece of his own soul off, and sent it to you, where it has lain dormant for years. And now, Voldemort has killed a part of himself. For what, Harry, is death?" Dumbledore asked. Harry didn't answer, as he expected Dumbledore to fill him in. He was not disappointed. "It is the loss of the soul. Your heart may stop, but it is your soul that matters. The killing spell of wizards causes no damage to the body – but it removes the soul. You had two, and it was the weaker one that was pushed out, while the other remains in whatever limbo it has conjured…"

"The Jedi Temple Spaceport," Harry confirmed.

"Really? How interesting," Dumbledore smiled. "But now, you see, your soul has a choice. Leave here in a ship; or go home."

Harry thought about it for a long moment.

Then, even as he was about to make the decision, he found himself opening his eyes…

--

Voldemort was walking away from him, raising his sabre, about to bring it down on Castor's head. Harry felt the Force in him. He didn't look down at the woulnd. He felt his lightsabre, cold in his hand. He stood. He walked up to Voldemort. The Dark Lord turned.

The sabre ignited.

Harry swung his arm.

Lord Voldemort looked at Harry in shock for a long moment, then looked down and the red mist of evaporating blood. Then he grimaced.

"My… Horcruxes…" he murmured. He looked for Nagini, his last link to life…

And he saw her headless body, Ronald Weasley standing over it, blue sabre ignited and repeatedly stabbed through the corpse.

"No," Voldemrot said. He turned to Potter. "You…"

He collapsed in two pieces. Harry sighed, and looked down where the Dark Lord's blade had entered his chest.

There was a hole in the cloth – but not the Jedi.

Harry smiled. Then he looked at the stairs, to see Ginny rushing towards him.

"Ginny, are you…?" he began, but he never finished as she jumped on him and kissed him.

When they broke apart, after what felt like a millennium, he smiled again.

Things were going to be alright.

--

**Some time later…**

It was going to take a while for everything to clear up, all the mess and all the death. There was mourning on all sides. Draco Malfoy had seen to it that his father got a decent burial, and even now, was negotiating with Remus Lupin – the new Headmaster of Hogwarts – and Severus Snape, the Jedi Master in charge of the Order now that Dumbledore was gone, to see if the Jedi Order had a place for him. Harry, though he had never liked the posturing, arrogant young man, could see a bright future for him, and he hoped it would come to pass. The New Jedi Order would be permanently relocated to Hogwarts now, to help train those who wished it.

Castor flexed his new arm distastefully, and stared in unabashed disgust. It was a skeletal thing, metal and cold.

"I'll never get used to this," he muttered.

"Don't worry," Kara smiled at him, holding the hand in hers. "I already have."

Castor smiled at her, and Harry smiled at them, happy that his friends had found some measure of happiness and peace, and then he raised himself up as they entered the Jedi Council's temporary meeting place.

Mace Windu and Yoda were waiting for him.

"We've read your report on this 'new Jedi Order,'" Mace said distastefully. "I can't say I approve, but Yoda seems to, so…"

"New blood in a differing universe, it is," Yoda smiled. "Do the Jedi good it will."

Mace sighed, but then he gave a rare smile.

"I also understand that you, Jedi Potter, wish to remain here."

"I do, sir," Harry said. "I feel… I feel that this is my home. Without Dumbledore, the Jedi here might lose their way. I feel I am needed to make sure that they keep to the path."

"And nothing to do, it has, with a certain Ginny Weasley?" Yoda smirked. The kiss had been rather visible. Mace Windu sighed, and smiled again.

"We, and the rest of the council, are confident that you will do well here," he said. "May the Force be with you."

Harry nodded, and bowed before the two beings he most respected in the universe.

"And with you, my Masters," he replied, before walking out.

--

At the portal, some days later, Harry looked for one last time at his two best friends from home.

"We'll come and visit," Castor promised. "As often as duty permits."

"I'm still sorry you're leaving," Harry said. "I still think you should stay…"

"I can't," Kara said, looking both sad and remarkably happy at the same time. "Coruscant is, and always will be home. I miss it."

"And I'm not leaving Kara for anything," Castor added. Harry noted the dangerous undertone in his voice. "Anything at all."

Harry smiled at his friends and bowed, half serious half mocking.

"I understand better than you know," he said. Ginny was waiting with Hermione and Ron behind him, waiting for him to come back. "You will visit, though."

"We will," Kara promised. "Count on it."

"You aren't getting rid of us so easily," Castor added.

And then, one last time, they all laughed. They hugged, and they said farewell.

And then, the two young Jedi walked through the portal, and vanished.

Harry Potter, Jedi Knight – no, Jedi _Master_ – watched the portal vanish, and then turned back to his friends.

This was not the end, he thought, solemnly. Merely a beginning.

He smiled.

Only ever a beginning.

The story wasn't over yet.

--

**To be continued in; Harry Potter and the Fall of the Jedi.**


End file.
